It's Not So Bad
by yogibogi
Summary: COMPLETE! Just another wacky story about the crazy times of the Marauders and friends, set in their 7th year. Mainly SBOC, and some JPLE. Please read and review!
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: Anything relating to the Harry Potter stories belongs to J. K. Rowling. She can have my characters and ideas as well.

CHAPTER 1

"Here you go, Bertie." said a girl with deep purple, thick-rimmed glasses and wild, curly dark brown hair that fell to her shoulders as she walked into the compartment of a moving train and dumped a pile of sweets onto one of the seats. "You think that'll be enough to sustain you for a couple of hours before the feast?"

"I told you never to call me that, _Sammy_." the boy referred to as "Bertie" replied dully, as he perused the sugary load.

"You're gonna have to come up with a better comeback than calling me by my last name, Bert." she replied with a smile that revealed a dimple in her left cheek as she slumped down into the seat across from him.

Bert tossed her a chocolate frog and rolled his blue eyes in annoyance, making his chubby freckled face look ever rounder than it already was. "You know I'm not as quick-witted as you are, Nora."

"You know that's not saying much, considering most people think I'm a mute." said Nora, while eating her chocolate. She took off her stylish rectangular-shaped glasses and read the card that came with her chocolate frog, rubbing the bridge of her nose at the same time. Bertram Aubrey was the only person that Nora ever took her glasses off in front of. In fact, he was the only person in their school who knew that she didn't even _need_ to wear glasses. They were just frames. He had tried to convince her countless times to give them up, but she would never listen to him. The only reason Nora wore glasses was because she was ashamed of her eyes; they were each a different color. Her right eye was a bright golden color, and her left eye was a dull olive green. Bert found her eyes fascinating and wondered why she would try to hide them. Nora just felt like she was abnormal and didn't want people to notice the defect.

"Well _I _certainly know you're not. I can't seem to get you to shut up most of the time. I don't know how I've put up with you for the past six years, actually." Bert said, trying to smooth out his wavy dirty-blonde hair.

"Maybe it has something to do with the fact that I'm your only friend at Hogwarts. You should remember that. Especially considering that I just got you this pile of junk food that you were too chicken to get yourself." replied Nora wryly, while putting her glasses back on. Bert didn't think she looked nerdy with her glasses, but he knew that without them she would be considered very attractive.

"Hey! I'm not chicken…I just didn't feel like going out there." said Bert uncomfortably.

"You know, you really need to get over this fear that you have of those guys. They weren't even out there. You can't hide forever. It's been almost two years since they hexed you and you've avoided them ever since. I bet they don't even remember doing it."

"Yeah right." He scoffed. "How could they forget? My head was twice its normal size! They got a detention because of what they did to me. You don't know those _Marauders_. I bet they're plotting their revenge right now…" He looked around the room, shifting his eyes in paranoia.

"Don't be ridiculous." Nora reprimanded her friend. "I know those guys. They're in my House. I've been going to classes with them for six years now. Trust me, they hex everyone. It's nothing personal."

"Well, that's a bit arrogant of them, isn't it?" Bert asked, sounding a little annoyed that she was defending them.

"I guess so. Although, they haven't really done so much pranking this past year. And it's only Potter and Black. Remus never _really_ did anything." she said, with a slightly dreamy look in her eyes.

"Oooh, of course not." said Bert in a very high-pitched voice clasping his hands together and batting his eyelashes furiously. "Perfect Remus Lupin could never harm anybody."

"_Prefect_, Remus Lupin." Nora corrected him with an amused smile. "You know he can't do anything. He'll get in big trouble."

"Mmhmm. Prefect or perfect…should be all the same to you, anyways. I'm sure you're really excited now that you've become a Prefect, too. You'll get to spend all this time with him." said Bert with a sly grin.

"Yeah, I dunno. I never really wanted to become a Prefect. Don't know why Dumbledore chose me." Nora replied.

"Well, its obvious that the Headmaster must've made Lily the Head Girl, so you're the one who's got to replace her, isn't it? You don't think he'd be mad enough to let those other seventh year Gryffindor girls become Prefects, do you?"

"I guess not." Nora shrugged, thinking of the other two seventh year girls she shared her dorm with besides Lily. "I wonder who made Head Boy?"

"Maybe it's Lupin. Or Amos Diggory." replied Bert.

"Who knows? I guess I should get going now anyways. I don't want to be the last person to walk in the compartment." said Nora, pinning her Prefect badge onto her robes.

"It's not going to take very long is it?" Bert asked anxiously.

"I'm sure it won't be that long, Bert." Nora replied, trying to smooth out her untamed curls without any success. "Don't worry! I'll be back soon. You gotta stop being so paranoid! Nobody is after you."

"I know that!" He said defensively. "I'll just be bored, that's all."

"Right." She said getting up.

"Say 'hi' to Lily for me." Bert said with a sheepish grin.

"Say 'hi' yourself when you see her." said Nora, rolling her eyes playfully.

"Are you crazy? My mouth freezes up whenever she's around. I can't think straight." Bert said in frustration. Nora laughed out loud as she slid the door open.

Nora left the compartment and headed uneasily down the corridor to the Head's compartment. Of all the years she had been attending Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, she had never attended any type of meeting that wasn't mandatory for class. She and her best friend, Bert, had stuck together like glue ever since they met on the very same train six years ago when they were in their first year. Although they were in different school houses, (she was in Gryffindor House and he was in Hufflepuff) they spent every free minute outside of class together. Because non-house members weren't allowed in each other's common rooms, Nora and Bert hung out either in the library or on the Hogwarts castle grounds. The only time Nora spent in the Gryffindor common room was to get back and forth to her dorm, so she was known to be very aloof and unsocial amongst her house members.

When Nora reached the Head's compartment, she could hear people talking inside. She took a deep breath and opened the door and slid inside quietly. Most of the Prefects from the other houses were already inside, chatting together happily. Nora made a quick scan of the room and noticed that Remus hadn't arrived yet, but she did notice a familiar flash of long, fiery red hair. Lily Evans came up to Nora when she caught her eye.

"Hey, Nora." said Lily, walking towards Nora, with her Head Girl badge stuck noticeably on her school robes. "So it looks like you're taking my place as Gryffindor Prefect this year. How was your summer?"

"Not bad. Congratulations on making Head Girl." Nora replied, surveying the room again.

"Thanks! I'm just waiting for my partner in crime. I don't know who it is yet. I'm hoping it's Remus." Lily replied, her almond shaped green eyes glowing with anticipation. As if on cue, a pale sandy-haired boy with bright brown eyes suddenly opened the compartment door and walked in, smiling broadly and greeting everyone. Nora suddenly felt her body contract and the room felt a little smaller.

"Remus!" Lily exclaimed, "You're still wearing your Prefect badge!"

"Yeah, Prefects usually do that." He replied with a wry smile.

"Oh no." Lily moaned dejectedly. "I was so sure you were going to be Head Boy with me. Now I _really_ don't know who it is. Do you?"

"Er…" Remus replied uncomfortably, trying to hide a smile that was threatening to burst out. Nora's wonder over Remus's discomfort came to an end just as a tall, bespectacled boy with very untidy jet black hair presented himself into the compartment.

"Potter?" Lily said as he took his sleeve to shine the Head Boy badge that was pinned triumphantly onto his robes.

"Lily." James Potter nodded to her in a very business-like fashion. "It's good to see you. Had a nice summer?"

"Great." She replied, sounding a little stunned and disappointed at the same time. Nora took a seat as Lily tried to recompose herself and get prepared for the meeting. Nora couldn't help but smile. She knew how much Lily disliked James and how much James was in love with Lily. In fact, there wasn't a single person in the entire school that didn't know about James's obsession with Lily. This was a sour point with many girls in the school because James was considered to be an excellent catch; he was good-looking, captain and star of the Gryffindor Quidditch team, and very smart. The only person that could rival him in these qualities was his best friend, Sirius Black. Nora thought Sirius was better looking than James, with his perfect jet-black hair and stormy grey eyes, but her eyes were blinded at the moment by their friend, Remus. Although he wasn't as good-looking as James and Sirius, Nora felt that he was less intimidating and a lot friendlier than his friends. He was not the least bit arrogant like his friends either, and she valued these qualities more than looks. Just as she was contemplating these facts, Remus took a seat next to her.

He smiled at her and she smiled back, feeling nervous again.

"So…this should be interesting, eh?" he said, referring to James and Lily.

"Yep." Nora said nodding her head in agreement. "Should be an interesting year." Nora instinctively pushed her glasses up closer to her eyes and looked to the front of the compartment where Lily and James were standing. Lily cleared her throat loudly to get everyone's attention and started to address the Prefects about what this year would entail and what their duties would be. When she was done she turned to James.

"Do you have anything to say, Pott—er, James?" she asked him.

"No, I think you've pretty much covered everything, Lily. I guess we'll have another meeting sometime this week to discuss future events in more detail." said James in a very professional manner, ending the meeting.

Nora got up as James came walking towards Remus. Although they were talking quietly, Nora could hear their conversation clearly.

"So how do you think I handled that, Moony?" James asked his friend with a grin.

"Very professionally. I'm proud of you." replied Remus, smiling and patting James on the back.

"Thanks, so am I." James said with a cocky grin. "This is going to be the year. She has to see that I've changed and give me a chance."

"Well, it better be the year. It's your last one!" Remus laughed as the two boys headed out of the compartment. Nora caught Lily's eye again as she was heading out and she scowled at James behind his back.

"I don't know what game he's playing at." Lily whispered to Nora, still scowling at James. "Since when does he act so serious and civilized?"

Nora shrugged and said, "Well, he is the Head Boy now. Maybe he's trying to prove his worth."

Lily pursed her lips and shook her head. "I dunno. I can't tell with him."

"Oh well, you have to work with him, so might as well make the best of it." Nora said wisely as she found the door to her and Bert's compartment.

"I guess so. I'll see you later at the feast then. Bye, Nora." Lily waved as Nora slid her door open. Nora was about to walk into the room when she let out a gasp. Standing over a very frightened looking Bert was a dark figure, pointing a wand directly at his nose.

A/N: Hey everyone...I decided to delete all the chapters of this story because I re-read them and realized that they need a LOT of editing. So, I'll be fixing them up and re-posting them as often as I can (probaby every couple of days). I know there are quite a few people on my alert list from when I was first posting, so if you don't want to recieve the edited chapters, I'd suggest taking myself off of the list. Otherwise, enjoy the new editions! If you are reading this story for the first time, I'd probably refrain from reading any of the reviews since there will no doubt be a lot of spoilers.


	2. Chapter 2

Disclaimer: Anything relating to the Harry Potter stories belongs to J. K. Rowling. She can have my characters and ideas as well.

CHAPTER 2

"Bert!" Nora exclaimed, taking her wand out and pointing it at the black-clad stranger as he turned around in surprise.

It was Severus Snape, a fellow seventh-year student from the house of Slytherin. His long greasy hair covered most of his face, only to reveal a long, pointy nose and dark, conniving eyes.

"What's going on here?" Nora asked bravely, still pointing her wand at him. She glanced at Bert and saw that he looked a bit stunned.

"Nothing that concerns you." Snape replied. "Although I don't know why a pure-blood witch like you would even bother wasting time with half-wit mudbloods who don't know their ass from their face."

"You better watch what you say, Snape." replied Nora coldly. "I'm a Prefect."

"And I'm scared." he replied in a bored manner.

"Get out of here." Nora said sternly, sliding the door open, and keeping her wand pointed at him.

"I was just leaving anyways." Snape said walking towards the door. He turned his head towards Bert and said right before disappearing, "Don't forget my warning, mudblood."

Nora slammed the door shut and sat next to Bert.

"What the hell just happened?" she asked him with concern.

"I dunno." Bert said, still sounding shaken up. "He just came in here and started telling me that things were starting to change and that people like me were going to be the first to know what was coming to them."

"What a creepy asshole." Nora said angrily. "Don't listen to him. He's just a greasy git who doesn't have any friends and picks on people who he thinks are weaker than him to make himself feel more important."

"I guess so." Bert said quietly. Nora tried to change the subject quickly, suspecting her friend was a little more afraid than he was letting on. He didn't talk much the rest of journey. He just listened to what Nora had to say about the meeting and then pretended to read a book. When they finally arrived at Hogwarts Station, and made their way to the school castle, Bert and Nora separated their ways to join their house members for the Welcoming Feast. Nora walked into the Great Hall where the feast was being held and walked towards the Gryffindor table. She noticed an empty seat next to Remus, but didn't dare sit next to him. He was sitting with James and Sirius, who were laughing hysterically at something that their other friend, Peter Pettigrew, had just said. Nora caught Lily's eye and Lily waved at her to sit next to her. She met her other roommates, Shelby Porter and Michelle Lee, who were sitting close by as well. The headmaster gave his yearly opening speech and the hungry students were finally granted permission to dig into their dinners.

"We heard you made Prefect." Michelle said to Nora, with a little resentment in her voice.

"Yeah. I dunno why Dumbledore chose me." said Nora indifferently.

"Hmm. Well, you're certainly lucky, aren't you? You'll get to work with James." Shelby said enviously looking towards James while twirling long strands of her strawberry blonde hair.

"And Remus." Michelle added dreamily. "He is so sweet. And cute."

"Right." Nora said, feeling an odd mixture of jealousy and self-satisfaction as she took a bite into her pot pie. She looked at Lily and noticed that she didn't look very amused either.

Just as she was reaching for some mashed potatoes, Shelby said, "At least Sirius isn't going to be pre-occupied with all this Prefect and Head Boy business."

"Why, are you going to be occupying his time for him?" Lily asked with a sly smile.

"Oh, I _wish_." Shelby said looking in Sirius's direction with hungry eyes. "Man, what I wouldn't do to just—"

"Well!" Michelle interrupted her. "He's not going to want to do anything with you if you keep eating all these mashed potatoes!"

"Listen, I wasn't blessed with a crazy Asian metabolism like you were, okay?" Shelby said defensively.

Lily and Nora were trying very hard not to choke on their food as they were stuffing their mouths to avoid laughing. Shelby and Michelle were best friends, but you wouldn't be able to tell if you were to overhear one of their conversations. Brutal truth would be a word to describe their relationship. Nora thought that Shelby was quite attractive, but she was just a bit overweight. Her personality was a little too overbearing for her taste, but Nora liked her a little more than Michelle. Michelle was a rake-thin girl with very short, straight black hair. She was extremely competitive and only really went out of her way to help Shelby. Michelle and Shelby tended to stick to themselves so Nora never really bothered to become close to them. Lily, Nora felt, was friendly with everyone, but a little too pre-occupied with school work and extra-curricular activities to have any really close friends.

When the feast was over, Lily reminded Nora that she and Remus had to escort the first years to Gryffindor Tower. Nora felt a jolt in her stomach, and a tap on her shoulder.

"Let's take these midgets up." Remus said to her with a warm smile. Nora, who was beginning to feel that Dumbledore perhaps made a good decision when he chose her to be a Prefect, got up to join him.

* * *

Later that night when Nora was changed into her pyjamas and sitting up in her bed, Lily came into the dormitory, looking a little perturbed. 

"I don't get it." she started to tell Nora. "He is just unbelievable. I really don't know if he's serious or just trying to pull one over me."

"Who are you talking about?" Nora asked her in confusion.

"Potter!" Lily exclaimed as she pulled out her pyjamas from her trunk. "He's still acting all strange and polite. He's driving me mad. I don't know if he's being sincere or making fun of me behind my back." Before Nora could say anything to Lily, the dorm room burst open and in marched Shelby and Michelle, both ranting about Sirius Black.

"I can't believe it! I mean what does he see in _her_?" Shelby was asking Michelle in frustration.

"I don't know. Guys are dogs." Michelle said, trying to soothe her friend as they went on to tell Lily and Nora about how they saw Sirius flirting with a sixth year Hufflepuff, who, according to Shelby, resembled a cow with caked on makeup.

"You know, Shelby. I don't think Sirius is your type." Lily said thoughtfully. "You should go for someone more like Amos Diggory or Anthony Chang. Or even Remus." Nora shot her head up at the sound of his name. _Remus?_

"Remus?" Michelle exclaimed Nora's sentiments exactly. "No, no. I don't think he's your type either, Shelby." Michelle looked almost livid at Lily for making the suggestion, and Nora didn't blame her. Nora slid down into her bed and pulled the covers over her head before she took off her glasses and slid them onto the table next to her. She did this every night before going falling asleep, making sure that no one would ever see her without her glasses.

She closed her eyes and could still hear Shelby talking as the rest of the girls made their way into their beds. "That's it. I'm done with boys at this place. They make me sick."

* * *

"Oooh, doesn't James just look extra good this morning?" Shelby said the next morning at the breakfast table in the Great Hall. Nora looked up from her food at Shelby with skeptical smile and shook her head slightly in amusement. Nora was sitting with Lily that morning, helping her go over a few of her plans for the Prefect meeting they had that night. 

"Sounds good, Lily." Nora said pleasantly, although feeling a little impatient on the inside. She was eager to leave the hall because she wanted to meet up with Bert so that they could go to their first class together. Nora was about to finally get up from her seat when Remus suddenly came up to them and sat up on the now clean table, right next to her. Nora could feel her heart beat a little harder and tried to act disinterested of his looming presence over her.

"Hey," Remus said with a smile, and then asked very casually, "What time is that meeting again, tonight?"

"Eight." Lily replied and then looked at him with an arched eyebrow. "Why didn't you just ask James what time it was?"

"Oh." Remus looked behind his shoulder for a second and then said quietly, "Well, actually James forgot what time it was at so he wanted me to ask you. But don't tell him I told you. He didn't want to look irresponsible."

"Did he really." Lily said, not sounding very amused. Nora couldn't help but crack a smile; Remus noticed it and smirked back. Nora, who felt a fluttering sensation in her stomach, looked up and saw Bert standing near the exit of the Great Hall, leaning against the wall with his arms crossed impatiently. She didn't feel like leaving just yet now that Remus was sitting so close to her, but she knew that Bert would be upset if they were late so she reluctantly had to take her leave from Remus and Lily, and got up to join him.

While walking down the corridor towards their class, Nora saw the tall figure of Sirius Black strolling lazily in the opposite direction. Bert quickly put his head down to avoid being noticed, but Nora looked up towards Sirius and met his cool gray eyes. He gave her a slight nod of acknowledgement and glanced at Bert. He squinted his eyes at him, as if trying to remember something. A small smile crept to his lips and he looked back at Nora, who had a slight frown on her face. He winked at her with the smile still plastered onto his face, ran his hand through his perfectly-set jet black hair and kept on walking his way.

"That guy is so weird." Nora said once he was out of earshot, although her face felt a little warm. _And so good-looking too_, she added secretly to herself.

"I think he remembers about the detention." said Bert sounding a little frightened. "I just know he's plotting something. I don't feel so good."

"Oh please, Bert." Nora said, feeling annoyed. "You're too damn paranoid. He's just…Sirius."

"Well, I'm glad you seem to like him so much," Bert started to say in a slightly resentful tone, "because I signed your name up for Quidditch tryouts."

"WHAT?" Nora yelled in the middle of the hall.

"Shh!" said Bert.

"Why the hell would you do something like that?" Nora asked him angrily, as she pulled him over to the side of the corridor.

"Well I saw the sign next to the Fat Lady's portrait outside of your common room and I noticed there were a few open positions from people who had left last year, and one of them was a Seeker. So I just wrote your name down." explained Bert.

"Ugh. Why would you do that? I don't want to be part of the Quidditch team. I don't think there are any girls on it. I don't want to be the only one." Nora said irritatedly. They started walking again and entered their classroom. "I'm going to go and scratch my name off the list after class."

"Oh, it's too late to do that." said Bert. "James already took the sign down. There were too many people signing up so they're just going to have the tryouts tomorrow evening."

"Well then I just won't show up." Nora shrugged.

"Don't be daft, Nora." Bert said. "You're really good and you know it. What's the harm in trying out? Who cares if you're the only girl?" Nora was about to reply as they were taking a seat when she noticed Sirius, James, Peter and Remus were in the same class, sitting a few rows behind them.

She could see that they were perusing over the Quidditch tryouts list, reading the names off. _Shit,_ Nora thought to herself. _They're gonna see my name. Stupid Bert. I'm gonna get him back for this._

Soon enough, she heard James exclaim. "Hey! A girl!"

"Where?" Sirius snatched the list from him and read it. "_Nora Sammy. Position: Seeker_." Nora could feel her cheeks get a little warm. She quickly opened her book and pretended to read. She felt Bert nudge her and she nudged him back harder in irritation.

"Hey, Nora!" It was Remus. _Oh, great,_ she thought as she turned around in her chair to face him. "You're trying out for the team?"

"Well, I'm not really—" she was saying when she felt another hard nudge from Bert. "Yeah, I guess I _might _try out."

"Well, I hope you make it. It'll be cool to have a girl on our team." he said happily.

"Yeah, cool for you guys _watching_." Sirius interrupted. He looked at Nora archly and said to his friends, "What if she slows down the whole team? You know girls…they're just not made for sports." James and Remus tried to stifle their laughs; they knew that he was just playing around.

"What?" Nora said indignantly. "Girls can play sports!"

"Well," Sirius said, leaning back into his chair and folding his hands behind his head, "You're gonna have to prove it."

A/N: Just to reiterate what I said last chapter: I decided to delete all the chapters of this story because I re-read them and realized that they need a LOT of editing. So, I'll be fixing them up and re-posting them as often as I can (probaby every couple of days). I know there are quite a few people on my alert list from when I was first posting, so if you don't want to recieve the edited chapters, I'd suggest taking myself off of the list. Otherwise, enjoy the new editions! If you are reading this story for the first time, I'd probably refrain from reading any of the reviews since there will no doubt be a lot of spoilers.

Anyhoos, I don't mind getting reviews...so send me some!


	3. Chapter 3

Disclaimer: Anything relating to the Harry Potter stories belongs to J. K. Rowling. She can have my characters and ideas as well.

CHAPTER 3

Nora woke up in the morning feeling nervous. She took a long hot shower to try to stifle her nerves, but it didn't help. She met Bert down in the Great Hall for breakfast, and he kept urging her eat something. She looked at the food laid out before her and it only made her feel more nauseous than she already was.

"What was I thinking?" she asked Bert helplessly. "I can't do this. I'll make a fool of myself, I know it."

"Don't be ridiculous." said Bert, piling his plate with muffins. "I've seen you play and I've seen how other kids in this school play. You're just as good as they are. Even better."

"You're just trying to make me feel better." said Nora sullenly.

"Why would I even sign you up for it if I didn't think you were good?" he asked her.

Nora shrugged. She took a bite out of a piece of toast that Bert had put on her plate and put it back down. It tasted like cardboard. "Yuck. I can't eat this." She waited until Bert was done eating his breakfast and they headed to their History of Magic class. It was Nora's least favourite class; she always fell asleep. Professor Binns' monotonous voice never failed to drown into a distinctive buzz. By the end of her next class, Arithmancy, she was thoroughly famished and headed eagerly to lunch with Bert. When they were finished eating, Nora got up from her seat quickly, turned around, and bumped right into Sirius, who was making his way through the tables.

"Ooh, watch where you're going, Four-eyes." said Sirius with a smirk. "You don't wanna get hurt right before tryouts, do you?" Nora adjusted her glasses that had gone askew and then scowled at him as he walked away laughing.

"Arrogant berk." Nora muttered to herself as she and Bert walked to their final classes. By dinner time, Nora was so nervous about tryouts that she didn't even bother going into the Great Hall. She took her broomstick and just strolled through the halls, trying to calm herself down. She soon saw Bert running down the hall to catch up with her, looking out of breath. _Well, it's a good thing _he's_ not trying out. I swear he gets more out of shape every year! _Nora thought to herself as they headed out to the Quidditch pitch where the tryouts were being held. When they reached it, Nora felt her mouth go a little dry. The field was packed with boys. Most of them looked like second to fourth years.

"Shit." she said to Bert. "What if one of these little guys is better than me? Do you know how embarrassing it'll be?"

"Don't worry." Bert tried to reassure her. "Just wait until most of them are already done. If you don't think you can beat them, we'll just head back inside."

"Fine." Nora agreed with him. They walked to the bleachers and Nora's spirits sank even lower when she spotted Remus and Sirius sitting down on them. _Oh man. This is just getting worse. I can't do this. _

"Oi!" Sirius called out and waved to them. Nora and Bert walked towards them. Remus had his usual friendly smile on his face, and Sirius had _his_ usual cocky grin on his. "So, you decided to come after all, eh Sammy?"

"Yeah, I just came to check it out. I'm not sure if I'm still gonna try out or not." Nora replied, trying very hard to avoid Remus's eye.

Sirius looked at Bert and acknowledged him. "Ernie." he said with a nod of his head.

"It's Bert." said Bert, clearly not amused.

Sirius looked confused for a moment and then turned his attention back to Nora. "Listen, these kids have been out here for a while practicing, and believe me, if you've ever even flown on a broomstick before, you'll be better off than these guys."

"He's right, Nora." Remus agreed. Nora felt a flutter in her stomach at the sound of her name coming from him. "Here, just sit down and watch them first." He moved the books that were next to him and she sat down, feeling a little luckier already. Bert took a seat next to her just as they saw James fly down to the pitch on his broomstick.

"Show-off." Bert mumbled quietly to Nora. Sirius got up from the bleachers and went to join James, who was now addressing the hopeful players.

"Okay now, we need one Chaser, one Keeper and the Seeker. So let's just form three groups. One for each position." said James as he looked down at the tryouts list. To Nora's horror, she saw a bunch of giggly girls make their way down to the pitch, with Michelle and Shelby being part of the group. _What are they doing here? _

"Nora! What're you doing here?" Shelby asked her as they reached the bleachers.

"She's trying out for the team." Remus answered for her.

"Really? I didn't know you could fly." said Michelle, eyeing Nora and Remus suspiciously. "We just came to watch."

Shelby and Michelle sat down in front of Nora, Bert and Remus.

"So Remus, why aren't you on the team? I bet you're a really good player." Michelle gushed at Remus.

"Er…I'm not bad, I guess. I just don't have…time." said Remus carefully. "Plus, I just like playing for fun. I don't think I'm the competitive type."

"Yeah. You're too nice and polite." Michelle said sweetly to Remus, much to Nora's disgust.

"Damn those guys look hot down there." said Shelby who was gawking at James and Sirius. Nora looked down at the pitch and noticed that they really did look good. She could see Sirius's tall figure with the wind blowing his perfect black hair away from his face. He was always laughing or smiling when he was with his friends. _Hmm,_ Nora began to think to herself, _I wonder what he looks like without a shirt on….Wait a minute._ Nora suddenly shook herself. _What the hell am I thinking?_ She looked to her right at Remus and saw that he was still chatting with Michelle. Nora growled internally and looked back at the pitch.

There were only a few boys trying out for the Keeper position, and James quickly picked out a fifth year, clearly better than the rest, Kingsley Shacklebolt. James then played around with the Chaser candidates, seeing who would make the best partner for him. When he finally picked another fifth year, Kingsley's friend Sam Jordan, James called all the people trying for the Seeker position to come forward.

"Aren't you going to go down there?" Bert asked Nora.

"No, I'll just wait here for a bit and see…" she replied.

James split the group in two sides and made each half line up on either side of the pitch. He stood in the middle and then released the Golden Snitch that they were to all try and capture at his signal. As soon as he moved out of the way and gave it, all of the boys zoomed to the middle of the pitch to try and catch it. Nora had to cover her mouth to keep from laughing out loud. Half of the younger-looking boys had already fallen off their broomsticks, and the other half all crashed into each other. The Snitch, Nora could see, was already on the far right side of the pitch. She looked over at James, who had his hands covering his face in disbelief, and Sirius, who was rolling on the floor laughing in hysterics.

"Nora," she heard Bert whisper to her from the side, "Come on, now. You _know_ you can get it. This is a joke!" Nora looked over at the pitch again and saw that the boys that were still flying around were clueless as to where the Snitch was. Nora scanned the pitch and saw it now over on the left side of the pitch, next to a fourth-year kid's ear, who had no idea it was there.

"See, I told you there was nothing to worry about." Remus said to her.

"Yeah, I guess." Nora felt that she should relieve James of his apparent misery. She stood up and grabbed her broomstick, and kicked off straight into the air with it. She could still see where the Snitch was on the other side of the pitch. She hadn't flown in a few days, and the cool air brushing against her face was very refreshing. She felt a sudden rush of adrenaline, knowing that she was better than anyone on the pitch and that Remus would be watching her, and zoomed past the struggling boys, knocking one of them off to the ground. She saw the Snitch was still buzzing around the same clueless boy's head and flew towards it.

"Hey." Nora said to him. "The Seeker is supposed to _catch_ the Snitch." She easily grabbed it and flew down to where James and Sirius were; their mouths were slightly open with very stunned expressions on their faces. She stretched her arm out to give James the Snitch back and was caught off guard when James pulled her into a desperate hug.

"Oh, thank Merlin!" he said with relief as he released her. "I thought we were really screwed this year." Nora stood there awkwardly, Snitch still in her hand when Sirius took it from her.

"So," he began to say, eyeing her, "you think you'll be able to handle playing with us boys? You know, we play a little dirty…and rough."

"Sirius, why are you trying to scare away our only chance of winning a game this year?" James asked quickly before Nora could answer Sirius back. "Don't listen to him, he's just teasing you. You'll be fine." He then turned to the boys on the pitch and yelled out, "Okay you girls can get out of here; we're done!"

"Well," Sirius said sticking his hand out to Nora, "Welcome to the team." Nora hesitated for a moment, but then gave him her hand and he shook it, roughly. The bones in her hand felt like they were being crushed and she looked up at Sirius. He had a very innocent, but obviously fake looking grin on his face. She struggled to pull her hand away and Sirius finally let go of it. Nora stared at Sirius like he was mad and then walked away from him quickly, rubbing her hand to try and relieve the pain. _Bloody hell!_ She thought to herself as she went to meet Bert. _I have a feeling this isn't going to very fun._

"Hmm." Sirius muttered to himself, looking at Nora as she walked ahead of him, "This is going to be fun."

A/N: So I fixed this chapter up a bit...next one will be up shortly. Let me know what you thought of it!


	4. Chapter 4

Disclaimer: Anything relating to the Harry Potter stories belongs to J. K. Rowling. She can have my characters and ideas as well.

CHAPTER 4

"Hey watch out, Nora!" James yelled as a Bludger went flying only inches away from her head. "Sirius! We all know you're a bloody good Beater, but would you mind not trying to kill our Seeker?"

"What?" Sirius said innocently as he flew over to where James and Nora were, bat in his hand. It was two days after the tryouts and the team had assembled together for a preliminary practice. Sirius gazed over at a very windswept-looking Nora and gave her a mischievous grin.

"I said," James answered him, "can you please not aim any of the Bludgers at Nora's head."

"What's the matter?" Sirius asked him, loud enough for Nora to hear, "Four-eyes can see the Snitch a mile away but can't see a Bludger two inches from her head?" Nora puffed up a little in indignation and Sirius flew up to her and said, squinting his eyes, "Are you far-sighted or something?"

James was trying to be stern with his friend but just ending up grinning instead. "Okay, okay. Stop bugging her. It's her first day." Sirius laughed and flew to the other side of the pitch. Nora scowled at his back as James flew next to her, hovering on his broomstick. "Don't mind him. He's just teasing you."

Nora nodded and said, "Yeah I figured that. I don't really mind the Bludgers coming at me. I guess it's good practice. I'm sure I'm going to be dodging them during the games against the other teams."

"Yeah, that's true." James agreed with her. "But I just wanted you to get used to everything first. I don't want you to get hurt already."

"Don't worry. You don't have to be over-protective with me just 'cause I'm a girl." Nora said, quickly dodging another Bludger that just whizzed by her head.

"Can't help it." James said with a smile. "It's going to take some time to get used to having a girl on the team."

An hour and five close-call Bludger dodges later, Nora was thoroughly pooped. Practice was finally over and the team made their way back to the castle.

"So, you didn't do too bad, Sammy." Sirius said to her as they all walked into the common room together. "I mean, I went a little easy on you, but I think you'll be okay."

"You don't have to go _easy_ on me, you know." Nora said, feeling a little irritated. Nora was tired and Sirius was starting to get a little on her nerves.

"Oh, don't worry, I won't. This was just the first day." he called to her as she walked away in the other direction and up the stairs to the girls' dormitory to shower and change for bed.

* * *

The following evening, Nora had Prefect duty rounds. At first, she felt that she was too tired from classes during the day and still sore from the other night's Quidditch practice and wished she didn't have to go. But, as soon as she found out that she would be doing her rounds with Remus, she suddenly felt a new burst of energy. She tried to tame her curly mane before leaving, although without much success, and succumbed to just putting on a little lipgloss. When she met Remus down in the common room, she noticed that he looked a little pale. 

"Hey." he smiled tiredly at her. "Ready to go?"

"Sure." said Nora as they exited the common room together, wondering if maybe he wasn't feeling too well. "Just lead the way."

"Patrolling gets a little boring sometimes." he said to her as they made their way down the corridors. "There usually isn't much action going on. I've caught a few people snogging in broom closets and some sneaking into the kitchens, but that's about it. Come to think of it, it's usually Sirius that I catch."

"Why am I not surprised." Nora said dryly. "You know, he kept trying to kill me during Quidditch practice last night."

"Really?" Remus asked her, looking very interested.

"Yeah." Nora replied, feeling annoyed at Sirius just thinking about it, "He kept aiming the Bludgers at my head."

"Well," Remus said, and Nora could tell he was trying not to smile, "I hope he missed."

Nora felt her chest swell up a little at his words and said, without even thinking about it, "You should come to our practice tomorrow." Once she said it, Nora felt surprised at her sudden boldness.

"Hmm…maybe next week." he said hesitantly. "I don't know if I'll get a chance to come tomorrow."

"Oh. Okay." said Nora, trying to hide the disappointment in her voice. _I'm such an idiot. Why did I even suggest that?_ Remus quickly changed the subject and started to talk about their classes. They continued to chat for the rest of their round until they saw Michelle sauntering down the hall.

"Hey guys!" she said when she saw them.

"Hey, Michelle." Remus said in a friendly voice, and Nora nodded at her. _Oh great. Why is she here? Man, can't I get any time alone with this guy?_

"What're you doing out here so late?" Remus asked her.

"I just came back from the hospital wing." Michelle replied.

"Why? Is everything okay?" he asked her.

"Oh yeah, fine. Just had a slight headache." said Michelle, her face glowing at Remus's apparent concern. "Hmm, you look like you should visit the Hospital Wing too, Remus. You look a little peaky."

"Oh," Remus said looking down at the ground. "I'm just really tired." He looked at his watch and said, "Well, I guess it's time to go back, anyways." Nora noticed the change in Remus's countenance and felt, with a little selfish happiness, that maybe he was slightly annoyed at Michelle's comments. They all headed back to Gryffindor Tower, with Nora noticing that Remus was still quiet. She felt that maybe there wasn't something quite right with him, but unlike Michelle, refused to pry into other people's business.

* * *

"So, how was your patrolling with Remus last night?" Bert asked Nora during breakfast the following morning. 

"Was okay," Nora said dully, "until Michelle showed up."

"Oh. Tough luck." Bert said through a mouthful of scrambled eggs.

Nora shrugged. "So are you going to come to our Quidditch practice today?"

"Oh yeah, I want to see how you play with those guys." Bert answered enthusiastically.

"Well, it's not very interesting at the moment." said Nora, "But just watch Black. I'm telling you, he's after my skull. He keeps aiming those Bludgers at my head."

"_Now_ who's being the paranoid one?" Bert asked her.

"You'll see." said Nora as they got up to head to class. "Just count how many times he does it."

"Oi! Four-eyes!" said Sirius, flying over towards Nora, who was hovering on her broomstick in the middle of the Quidditch pitch later that evening. "Who said Ernie could come to the practice?"

"What do you mean?" she asked him, looking down at Bert who was sitting on the bleachers. "He's just watching."

"He's in Hufflepuff! He'll tell their team all our tactics." Sirius said with a raised eyebrow.

"Trust me, he won't do that. He doesn't talk to them." Nora said, trying to wave Sirius off.

"I see, got your boyfriend on a real leash, don't you?" he asked her with a grin.

"Boyfriend?" Nora exclaimed, looking at Sirius with surprise. "Bert's not my boyfriend!"

"He's not?" he asked her looking confused.

"No!" Nora confirmed sternly.

"Oh," he shrugged, "I figured you guys spent a lot of time together so I just assumed…"

"Yeah, it's nothing like that. We're just really good friends." she said resolutely.

"Hmm…that explains a lot." he said more to himself and then said to Nora with a raised eyebrow, "So I guess he won't mind so much when he sees me beating those Bludgers at you, eh?" He flew away before Nora could say anything to him.

"Ten times." Bert said as Nora flew down to meet him on the ground after the practice was called to an end. "I saw Sirius hit the Bludgers towards you ten times. I guess you were right. He really is after your skull."

"Ha! And I dodged all of them." Nora said triumphantly.

"Don't worry." Sirius's voice suddenly came from above. He was flying over their heads and heard their conversation. "I'll get you next time, Four-eyes."

"Sirius," James said as he caught up to the group, "just because Nora is the only girl on the team, doesn't mean you have to constantly flirt with her."

Sirius laughed out loud. "What can I say? Bad habits are hard to break." he said before speeding away from them on his broomstick.

* * *

Nora trudged along one morning to the only class she didn't have with Bert: Muggle Studies. She tried to convince him to take it with her, but him being a Muggle-born, wasn't very interested in learning stuff that he already knew. He was always fascinated by Divination and decided to take that class instead. Nora couldn't stand Divination, so she figured one class without Bert wouldn't be so bad. She walked into the classroom, eager to spot anyone she knew in the class. She spotted Sirius and James sitting in the back of the room. They were both busy chatting with a couple of Ravenclaw girls and didn't see her. She spotted Shelby sitting alone a few rows below them and took a seat next to her. 

As soon as the class was full, the professor cleared her throat for silence and began lecturing. "The first unit in this course that we will be studying is Muggle Family Studies. But, instead of just reading through the book, we will be doing a simulation project. Students tend to get a more practical understanding of what goes on in Muggle families this way. So, to start us off, I'm going to be passing out a contract to all the boys in the class." She tapped her wand and the parchments went flying onto each of the boys' desks.

"This is a _marriage_ contract." James said as he read the contract. "Oh boy."

"I knew we should've taken Ancient Runes instead with Remus." muttered Sirius. "Lucky Moony."

"Now, Muggles usually get to choose their own spouses, although arranged marriages still exist in some societies." the professor began to explain again. "The men traditionally propose to the women, so that's what we are going to do. Before you gentlemen start scoping out the most attractive person in the room to marry, think about who would make a good partner. Your grades depend on it. I would suggest, from previous experience, to choose someone either in your own house or someone that you are in contact with regularly. You'll understand later why this is important. You should also pick someone you know that you can trust and work with fairly well."

The students in the class started mumbling to each other and the professor asked, "Okay, before we start are there any questions?"

"Ooh!" Shelby raised her hand. "Can we refuse a proposal?"

"Yes, you can." She answered.

"Can we get divorced?" Someone from the back yelled out.

"Yes, if you really feel that you can't work well together, you can." replied the professor. "But it'll cost you. Two letter grades to be exact."

"What? That's crazy!" The students in the class all started to grumble with discontent.

"It's all part of the project. It'll become clearer as we go along." she concluded.

_Oh great! _Nora thought to herself. _Why didn't stupid Bert take this class with me! What if nobody wants to work with me? _Nora dropped her quill on the ground and bent down to get it.

"Dammit! Why didn't Lily take this class?" James lamented. "Is there anyone from our house in this class?" James and Sirius scanned the class and saw Shelby.

"Oh…there's Porter." Sirius said unenthusiastically.

"Er…fine. I'm going to just ask her." James said, getting up from his seat.

"What about me?" Sirius asked just as Nora sat back up from retrieving her quill. James stopped when he saw her and looked back at Sirius.

"No" Sirius mouthed silently but sternly to James. "You already picked Shelby" James shrugged in defeat and approached Shelby reluctantly.

Before James could change his mind about picking partners, Sirius yelled out, "Oi! Sammy!"

Nora, who was listening to an overjoyed Shelby talking to James and signing their contract, turned around to face Sirius. He leaned his chair back against the wall and had his signature cocky grin on his face. He ran his hands through his hair and clasped his hands over his head and said, "I know this is the day that you've been waiting for your whole life." Nora stared at Sirius with a very unaffected look on her face. He quickly clunked his seat back to the ground and jumped down towards her. Before she knew what he was doing he grabbed her hand and said with a fake earnestness, "Four-eyes, will you marry me?"

* * *

A/N: Hehehe...I didn't change too much in this chapter...next one will be up soon. Send me some reviews to let me know how you like it so far! 


	5. Chapter 5

Disclaimer: Anything relating to the Harry Potter stories belongs to J. K. Rowling. She can have my characters and ideas as well.

CHAPTER 5

Nora had just finished studying with Bert in the library that same evening, when she was passing through the Gryffindor common room to get to her dorm. James, Sirius, and Peter were sitting around the fireplace playing a game of wizard's chess. As soon as Sirius saw Nora walking by he called out to her, "Eh, woman! What were you doing out so late? Make my bed, iron my clothes, and shine my shoes!"

Nora was close to a couch with cushions on it so she grabbed one and chucked it, aiming at his head. Sirius caught the pillow and said in a grave voice, "That's it. You're sleeping on the couch tonight." Nora, who continued to walk up towards the dorm, just shook her head with a smile she was trying very hard to suppress as the boys started to laugh in hysterics. Sirius had found any opportunity that day to tease her about their Muggle Studies assignment.

Halfway up the stairs, Nora heard James say, "Hey is Moony already there?"

"Yeah, we're gonna meet him in half an hour." Sirius replied. Nora stopped to listen. She had overheard Remus being referred to as "Moony" before by his friends. When she thought about it, they all had strange nicknames for each other.

"So are we going to stick to the forest today?" asked Peter.

"Shh, Wormtail, keep it down." James urged him. Nora couldn't hear anything else that they were saying so she continued walking up the stairs. _Hmm. That's odd. I wonder where Remus is. Isn't it a little dangerous for them to be sneaking out into the forest late at night?_ She thought to herself as she opened her dormitory door.

When Nora entered her dorm room, she could hear Shelby just finish telling the story of what happened in Muggle Studies class, for the tenth time that day. Every time she saw someone new she had to tell them what had happened.

"And James picked _me_." She concluded triumphantly to a very uninterested looking Lily. As soon as she saw Nora come in she said, "Ooh, Nora, I was just telling Lily about Muggle Studies class today. Do you know how many girls were eyeing us jealously because James and Sirius picked us?" Nora shrugged indifferently as she took out her pyjamas from her closet and walked into the bathroom to wash up for bed. As she was brushing her teeth she couldn't help but wonder what it was the boys were talking about downstairs. Nora had an odd feeling that something wasn't quite right with Remus.

* * *

The next morning at breakfast, Nora and Bert were eating together when she told Bert about how she was awakened in the middle of the night by strange howling noises. 

"I've heard that before. Those noises come from the Shrieking Shack. It's haunted you know." Bert explained to Nora.

"Yeah I know what the Shrieking Shack is, Bert. I dunno, I just overheard these guys talking last night…something about going to the forest." said Nora, just as Sirius, James and Peter strolled into the Great Hall, all looking very sleepy. Nora noticed that Remus wasn't with them and suddenly felt very alarmed.

"Where's Remus?" Michelle, who was sitting a few seats away from Nora with Shelby, asked the boys.

"Oh, he had to go to the hospital wing." James answered without much concern. "He wasn't feeling so good last night."

"I hope he's okay." Michelle said, looking as anxious as Nora felt.

"Yeah, he's fine. Don't worry. It's nothing serious." Sirius answered and he sat down and started piling food onto his plate.

Nora looked at the boys suspiciously and wondered if they weren't hiding something. _Hmm,_ she started to ponder, _I wonder if Remus is really okay. But I guess if he wasn't they wouldn't be acting so unconcerned. Maybe they didn't end up going outside last night after all. Actually...now that I think about it, Remus is away quite often..._

"Hey Nora." James said, interrupting her thoughts. "Don't forget there's a practice tonight. Only one more week until our first match against Ravenclaw."

"Oh, yeah, I didn't forget." Nora said as she and Bert got up to head to their classes. "I'll see you guys later."

* * *

"So, James," Nora began to say as they were both hovering over the Quidditch pitch during practice later that evening, "Last night when I walked into our dorm, Shelby was telling Lily about how you picked her for our Muggle Studies project." 

"I see." James said and flew a little closer to her, eager to hear what gossip she had to say.

"Yeah, she was completely uninterested in the conversation." Nora said.

"Oh." James said, a little dejectedly. With all the time Nora was spending with James on the Quidditch pitch, she had started to really like him. He seemed to be a very sincere and caring person once you got to know him. She felt bad at the fact that Lily still didn't fancy him and tried to give him as much hope as she could.

"Yeah, but she seemed a little _too_ uninterested, if you know what I mean." Nora said with a smile.

"Oh yeah?" James said with interest just as a Bludger shot passed him, missing him by an inch, and hitting Nora smack into her left arm.

"AAH!" Nora yelled, clutching her arm in pain. James came to her side and behind him came Sirius, laughing out loud.

"Ha! Finally got you, Four-eyes." He said, swinging his bat around in triumph.

"Whatever, you jackass. I wasn't even paying attention just then." Nora said, rubbing her arm.

"Well, whose fault is that?" he asked her. Nora ignored him and kept rubbing her arm, trying to numb the stinging pain a little. James gave his friend a slightly disapproving look.

Sirius, who now felt a tinge of guilt, came to the other side of Nora and asked, "Does it really hurt _that_ much?"

"No, it feels so good." Nora said with irritated sarcasm. "Do it again."

James could feel an argument about to erupt so he interjected and asked Nora, "Do you wanna take a break?"

"No," she answered, shaking her arm around, "it's not so bad. I'm fine. Let's just play." James and Sirius flew back into their positions and Nora went back on the lookout for the Snitch. Only two minutes later, Nora spotted it, very close to Sirius. He was too busy hitting Bludgers around with his fellow Beater, Vijay Patil, to notice it buzzing around. Nora quickly flew towards him from behind. As soon as he swung his bat at a Bludger, she circled him and grabbed the Snitch that was right next to his head, catching him off guard. He lost his balance trying to hold his bat while at the same time trying to keep a strong grip on his broomstick, and ended up falling off his broomstick completely. Lucky for him, he wasn't too far from the ground when he landed on it face down.

Nora flew down to the ground next to him and he lifted his head up to face her.

"Does it feel good, Black?" she asked him with a roguish grin.

"It's…not so bad." he replied in a strained voice and rested his head back on the ground with a sigh of pain.

* * *

"Oh, you don't even have to bother asking Michelle that question. We all know what the answer is." Lily said as the girls were all lounging around in their dormitory before bed late that night. Nora tucked herself in bed comfortably and sighed internally. _Is this all these girls like to talk about? They never get sick of it!_

"I can't help it." Michelle said, sounding a little giddy. "Remus is just _so_ nice that it makes him look even nicer on the outside." Nora suddenly felt like stuffing a pillow in Michelle's face.

"Well," Shelby, who had asked the original question of who they thought was the best looking boy in school, started to say, "Sirius is definitely the hottest guy in the school."

"Yeah, for sure." Lily agreed with her. "But he's a little _too_ perfect looking for me to be very attracted to him. Maybe if he wore glasses…"

"Like James?" Nora asked, trying very hard to suppress a wicked grin.

"Oh…er…" Lily stuttered, clearly caught off guard. "Yeah, never mind. Forget I said that. He looks fine just the way he is."

"So what about _you_, Nora? You never say anything about guys. Is Bert the only one in your life?" Michelle said with a hint of a sneer.

"Uh…everyone knows Bert is just my friend." Nora said, starting to dislike Michelle more and more as the night progressed.

"So who do you think is the best looking guy in the school?" Shelby asked her with interest.

"I dunno." She shrugged on the outside, but inside was sighing Remus's name. "I guess Black is undeniably good looking. But he's such an arrogant flirt; he doesn't really faze me so much. James is good-looking too. And I guess Amos Diggory isn't so bad either."

"What about Remus?" Michelle asked indignantly.

"Oh, yeah," she said trying to sound indifferent. "He's okay too."

"_Okay_? I think he's a little better than just _okay_." Michelle said defensively.

"Whatever, fine, he's really cute." Nora said feeling thoroughly agitated by now. She already hated talking about this subject with these girls, and Michelle's tone was making it worse. She didn't want them asking her any more uncomfortable questions so said to them abruptly. "I'm really tired, guys. I'm going to sleep. Good night." She pulled the covers over her head and wished she could just disappear.

* * *

"Man, I hate hanging out with girls. All they do is talk about guys." Nora said to Bert the next morning over breakfast, still grumpy from the night before. 

"Really?" Bert said with genuine interest.

"Yeah, they were all discussing who they thought was the best looking guy in the school." Nora answered, while buttering her toast.

"Did Lily say anything about me?" he asked hopefully.

"Er…no, sorry Bert. I think that's a dream you're just going to have to give up." Nora said with a smile before biting into her toast.

"Man, if only I was tall, and muscular…" said Bert, looking far away.

"Well, it's not going to happen if you keep stuffing your face with muffins." Nora said sternly.

"Oi, Ernie!" came a cheerful voice from behind them. "Whatcha doin' with my woman?" Sirius, James and Remus, who was looking much better, had entered the Great Hall. Sirius came and sat on the empty seat next to Nora and put his arm around her shoulders. Nora, who otherwise wouldn't care were it not for the fact that Remus was sitting a few seats away, looked at him like he was crazy, but Sirius, oblivious to this fact, continued to talk to her. "So you know how we were supposed to meet up in the library tonight to work on our project?"

"Yeah…" Nora replied, looking at him warily, praying that Remus wasn't watching this. She had no doubt that almost every girl in the hall at that moment was probably looking in their direction.

"Well, I _kinda_ forgot that I promised somebody earlier that I'd meet up with her." he said in a regretful yet hopeful tone.

"Well, we don't have any other time to work on it. It's due tomorrow." Nora said with a frown.

"I know, but see," he said moving even closer to her, and making her even more uncomfortable than she already was, "I read over what we had to do, and it's pretty easy. So I was just thinking that _maybe_ you could do it, and then I'll do the next part of the project by myself."

"But I don't want you to do it by yourself. We're supposed to both do it…it's the whole point of the assignment." Nora tried to reason with him. Sirius looked at her again with hopeful eyes, but her cold expression didn't change.

"Ugh. Fine." he said, resting his forehead on her shoulder in defeat. "Do you realize I'm giving up a very fine piece of ass for this?"

"I'm sure you'll live." Nora replied dryly, wishing he'd get off of her. The smell of his cologne was very strong and his body being so close to her was making her too warm. She glanced quickly in Remus's direction and caught his eye. He gave her a little smirk and she smiled back uncomfortably, her face starting to feel really hot now.

"We're meeting in the common room, right?" he asked her, his head still resting on her.

"No, the library." she said, praying he'd move now.

"What?" he said, finally picking up his head and removing his arm from her shoulder and looking at her. "I hate the library. It's too damn quiet."

"Well the common room is too damn noisy." Nora retorted.

"Well, sorry." he said resolutely. "I refuse to go to the library. If you want to do this assignment, you'll just have to meet me in the common room."

"If _I_ want to do the assignment? It's yours too! I'll be waiting in the library. Don't be late." said Nora, equally resolute.

"And, like I said, I'll be waiting in the common room." He got up from his seat.

"I'm not kidding. I'll be in the library." Nora said very seriously.

"Neither am I. I'll see you in the common room later." He started to walk away when he suddenly stopped and said with a cheeky grin, "Oh, and by the way, I've got my eye on you two. Ernie, you better not be messing around with my missus." Nora nearly choked on the toast she had just taken a bite out of and Bert just looked perplexed.

"So, you looked pretty comfortable with Sirius just now." Shelby said as she sauntered over to Nora's table.

"Oh please. He was trying to charm his way out of doing an assignment." Nora rolled her eyes. "Man that guy is just all jokes. He doesn't take anything seriously. He better be at the library tonight, or I'll be ticked."

* * *

"I'm seriously going to kill him." Nora said to herself. It had been twenty minutes and Sirius still hadn't shown up to the library. She didn't want to go to the common room because that would give Sirius the impression that he could always get his way, and Nora didn't want that. Yet, at the same time, she really wanted to finish the assignment. _Well_, she thought to herself as she got up to leave, _he did ditch some girl so he could work on the assignment with me, so I guess it wouldn't be a big deal if I just went to the common room_. 

When Nora entered the common room, she found Sirius sitting very comfortably with some sixth year girl who wouldn't stop giggling. Nora could feel anger starting to bubble up inside. _Is this all he does?_ To make matters worse, Nora spotted Remus and Michelle engaged in what seemed to be a serious conversation on the other side of the room. Nora had the sudden urge to take out her wand and hex everyone in the room, but settled on just clearing her throat to get Sirius's attention.

Sirius turned his head to face her. "Oh, you finally made it." He said to her, and then added. "You're a little late, don't you think?"

Nora, who was grinding her teeth, said, "Is this the _ass_ you were supposed to meet tonight?" The girl looked at Sirius in a very baffled manner and he cleared his throat violently.

"Uh, okay, we gotta get some work done, so I'll talk to you later." He told her quickly and she left the couch. Sirius scowled a little at Nora, but could see that she was very angry, so he decided not to say anything back to her. She reluctantly sat down next to him and took out her assignment materials, in silence. Sirius decided to break the ice.

"Why are you so angry? I told you I was going to be here." he said, looking at her with wonder.

"And I told you that _I _was going to be in the library." Nora snapped back, taking out her anger on him.

Sirius could tell that this argument was going to get them nowhere so he said, "Okay, never mind. Let's just finish this up." Nora took her quill and parchment and started to write, but she was still so upset that she ended up pressing her quill down too hard and broke the point.

Sirius, who was now a little confused as to why she was so angry, gently took the parchment away from her and said, "Here, why don't I just write." Nora let him take it and just sat there, trying not to glare at Michelle. As Sirius was copying down questions onto the parchment, he kept stealing quick looks at Nora, trying to figure out what was wrong. He noticed that she kept glancing in Remus's direction and wondered if it had something to do with him.

"So," he said, eyeing her suspiciously, "Michelle seems to really like Remus."

"What?" Nora asked, looking at Sirius and then looking over at Michelle and Remus. "Oh, yeah. She doesn't hide her sentiments. It's pretty obvious and she knows it."

"Yeah, he knows it too, but he's too nice to say anything. It's too bad she's just going to end up being disappointed." he said with a slight shake of his head while scribbling down some notes.

"What do you mean?" Nora asked, suddenly feeling a little hopeful. But before Sirius could answer her question, James came bursting into the common room, his face looking very panic-stricken.

* * *

A/N: I know, I hate cliffhangers too, but this chapter was getting too long so I had to save some action for the next one. Please let me know how you like the story so far by sending me some reviews! hehe. :) 


	6. Chapter 6

Disclaimer: Anything relating to the Harry Potter stories belongs to J. K. Rowling. She can have my characters and ideas as well.

CHAPTER 6

"SHIT! WE'RE SCREWED!" James yelled and everyone in the common room stopped what they were doing and turned to stare at him. Nora and Sirius both jumped out of their seats as James came bounding towards them.

"What happened?" Sirius asked him with concern.

"It's bloody _tomorrow!_" James answered hysterically.

"What is?" Nora asked him, just as Remus and Michelle joined them.

"The _match_! I was looking at the wrong date the whole time! We're playing Ravenclaw tomorrow, not next week!" he exclaimed, running his hand in frustration through his already messy hair.

"Oh my goodness!" Nora gasped and then said with realization, "No wonder those guys were giving me sneering looks the whole day. I thought maybe they were getting into the Quidditch spirit a little too early…."

"Yeah, I just saw Chang outside and he was asking about how our Seeker was." James was explaining. "He wanted to know what the competition was going to be like _tomorrow_, and I was confused and told him the game was next week. But then he started to laugh and said 'That's a good one, Potter!' and I didn't want to look like an idiot so I just played along and laughed with him. But then when he was gone I ran down to check the schedule and he was right!"

"Prongs, how the hell can you mix up the date like that?" Sirius asked him incredulously.

"I dunno!" James said, looking very tense, "I must've mixed up the date with my Head duties!"

"Okay well, we're not totally screwed. We just have to plan an emergency practice, right now." Sirius said rationally.

"Right. Good thinking." James said just as Lily came storming into the common room.

"Potter!" she exclaimed when she saw him. "Where have you been? I've been waiting for you for more than half an hour!"

"Not now, Lily, I've got a big problem." James said still looking very apprehensive.

"Why, what happened?" Lily's countenance suddenly became more concerned when realized how stressed he looked.

"We just found out that our Quidditch match is tomorrow." Sirius answered.

"Oh." Lily said frowning a little. "_I _knew it was tomorrow."

"You did?" James asked agitatedly, "How come you didn't tell us?"

"I thought you guys knew!" Lily exclaimed. "Who doesn't?"

"Do you think we'd be taking it this easy if we knew it was tomorrow?" James's voice was becoming alarmingly loud now.

"Well how the hell am I supposed to know?" Lily asked him, her voice equally loud. "I don't revolve my life around Quidditch like you guys do!"

Nora looked at James and saw that he was on the verge of having a total nervous breakdown. "Okay," she said trying to calm everyone down, "let's just go and practice now. We're wasting our time just standing around here arguing for nothing."

"But we have to finish these reports for Dumbledore! I have to give them to him in the morning!" Lily complained.

"Well, I don't have a choice, do I?" James said resolutely.

"Oh, please." Lily said rolling her eyes. "The match is not _that_ important."

There was a sudden stunned silence around the room. James fixed his eyes on Lily and said, "Excuse me?"

"I think our Head duties should take first priority over a stupid game." she replied stubbornly.

There was another bout of silence and James repeated gravely, "A stupid game?"

"She didn't just say that." Sirius said, looking a little scared for her.

"Oh yes I did." Lily said, crossing her arms over her chest.

"Okay, I don't have time for this right now, Lily." James tried to say as calmly as he could through gritted teeth. "Sirius, can you please tell everyone to meet me out on the pitch in ten minutes. If anybody is late, I will hex them so badly they won't be able to sit on a broomstick for the next ten years." He gave Lily a dangerous glare and walked out of the common room. As soon as he was gone, Lily stormed up to her dorm, muttering curses at James under her breath.

Everyone stood around in silence for a few moments before Sirius said to Nora, "Okay Four-eyes, let's get going. Oi! Patil! Get Shacklebolt and Jordan."

* * *

"I think we're in good enough shape." James said to the team after a couple hours of practice later. "Just focus on what we did tonight, and we should be alright. Remember, it's just the first game so it's not really about winning or losing." 

Sirius gave a sarcastic snort and James ignored him, finishing his pep talk, "Alright then. That's about it. Try not to be nervous either." He gave Nora an encouraging smile.

Nora was feeling pretty optimistic about the match until Sirius walked next to her and said, "You know, you're the only one who really needs to be worried, Four-eyes. Anthony Chang is a damn good Seeker."

"Great. I really needed to know that." she said sarcastically as they made their way through the castle and into the common room. Nora saw her books lying on the couch where she had left them and remembered that they still had to finish their assignment.

"Oh no," Sirius groaned. "I'm too tired. Let's do it in the morning."

"No way." Nora said firmly. "We have to finish it now. There's no time in the morning." _Besides, I know I'll be way too nervous to concentrate on any school work. _Nora added to herself; she didn't want Sirius to know how nervous she really was.

"Man, you are stubborn sometimes." Sirius said as he plopped down onto one of the sofas.

"I have to be otherwise we'd never get anything done." Nora said tiredly, taking out her assignment. Nora concentrated as hard as she could on her work, but her mind kept drifting off to the impending Quidditch match. She glanced at Sirius every so often and saw that he was working diligently without any apparent concern for their match tomorrow. Nora wondered at how he could be so carefree all the time. He seemed to do everything with ease. Even his looks betrayed a sense of smooth effortlessness. Even after two hours of hard Quidditch practice, his hair still fell gracefully over his face. Nora looked at her own hair and felt almost jealous of Sirius's.

"I have to take a shower." Nora said as she put the finishing touches to the assignment. "My hair is going berserk." Her hair had frizzed up during practice and looked even wilder than usual.

Sirius put his quill down, scanned her hair and asked with a puzzled look, "Doesn't it always look that way?"

"Thanks." She said dryly as she tried to control it by tying it up into a bun.

'What? There's nothing wrong with it." he said earnestly but Nora looked at him disbelievingly. "I'm serious. It's kinda cool…in a funky sort of way."

"Right." Nora said curtly. "If my mother heard you say that, she'd smack you."

"What do you mean?" he asked with a slightly confused smile.

"She's always complaining about my hair." she explained. "Says I look like some deranged hippie that's been…what's that Muggle word? _Electrocuted_? It's when your brains get fried or something…"

"Oh yeah." Sirius said knowingly. "It's actually called _ejetrocuted_."

"Right, that's the word." Nora agreed with him. "Anyways, if we're done here then I think I'm gonna head up. I'm totally drained."

"Yeah, me too." said Sirius getting up.

As they walked towards the staircase together, Nora was surprised to find herself thinking that she didn't actually mind Sirius's presence anymore; that she might even like him as a person. The feeling didn't last longer than a few seconds. Just as they were about to part to their respective dorms Sirius ruffled up Nora's hair and said with an overly pleasant smile, "Good night, you four-eyed deranged hippie. Try not to have too many nightmares about losing the match tomorrow. Remember, we don't expect much out of you, so don't worry about!"

* * *

When Nora woke up the next morning, she felt like throwing up. _Oh crap. I can't play today! I'm too nervous. Stupid Sirius. Why did he have to scare me about Chang? _She thought to herself apprehensively as she made her way down to the Great Hall to meet Bert for breakfast. 

"Your face looks kinda green, Nora." Bert said to her as she sat down next to him.

"Thanks." Nora grumbled, the smell of the food starting to make her queasy.

"Maybe you should eat something." he suggested.

"Don't talk about food, please." Nora said. "I don't even know what I'm doing in here." She looked across the table and saw James, Remus and Peter sitting down eating their breakfast. James still looked a little tense from the other night, but not tense enough to stop him from inhaling a plate full of food. Nora was aimlessly surveying the hall, trying to keep her mind off of the game, when she saw Lily enter through the doors and walk right up to James.

"James." she said to him.

James looked mildly surprised for a moment but then said in an indifferent tone, "Yes?"

Lily looked a little uncomfortable at first but then she cleared her throat and said in a clear voice, "I just wanted to apologize for what I said last night. I know that Quidditch means a lot to you, and I'm sorry if I offended you in any way."

"Oh." His face softened a little. "Okay. Thanks."

"Alright." Lily said in a very business-like manner. "Good luck today." She turned around and walked away. Nora thought she could see the tension melt away from James's face and a small smile start to appear.

"Oh, damn. Four-eyes, you look green." Nora looked up and saw Sirius standing across the table from her behind James and Remus, grinning as usual. He went around the table to the same side she was sitting on.

"Thank you." Nora said sarcastically, rolling her eyes at him, "I feel much better now."

"Don't worry," he said as he sat down next to her to eat, "if we lose the match today because of you, it won't be a total embarrassment. I mean after all, girls aren't expected to actually _win_ at sports against boys." Remus nearly choked on the pumpkin juice he was drinking and James started to cough to cover up a laugh.

"Really." Nora could feel her fists clench up and her teeth start to grind.

"Yeah!" he said enthusiastically. "So, no sweat about losing, alright? We're almost expecting it!" he said giving her a good pat on the back.

"Black, if you touch me one more time, I swear I'm going to shove my broomstick so far up you're a—"

"Hey hey!" James interrupted Nora quickly. "Let's have a little more team spirit, okay? Nora, I've told you so many times not to listen to this guy. He's just trying to rile you up. And Sirius, just lay off her for a while, okay?" Sirius shrugged and continued to eat his breakfast happily and Nora just stared at her empty plate, wondering if there was any possible way out of the situation.

Nora didn't pay attention to anything or anyone in her classes that day. Her mind kept wandering off, worrying about the game. She was so preoccupied with her thoughts that she bumped right into Anthony Chang on her way out of her last class.

"Oh, sorry." Nora said, feeling embarrassed.

"That's okay." Anthony said with a smile. He looked at her for a moment quizzically and then asked, "You're the Seeker for Gryffindor this year, aren't you?"

"Yeah." Nora said, noticing how friendly he seemed.

"Well," he smiled at her, "I guess I'll be seeing you on the pitch soon. Good luck." Nora nodded her head and mumbled a thank you.

Her spirits only rose a tiny bit when she was dressed up in her uniform and waiting for the rest of the team in the Gryffindor common room, when Remus came down to her and said, "Don't be nervous, Nora. You're gonna be fine. And don't listen to what Sirius says. He's just bugging you. I've seen Chang play. He's not _that_ good."

_

* * *

_

_Okay, just relax. You can do this._ Nora was saying to herself as she was hovering over the Quidditch pitch. It was only fifteen minutes into the game and both teams had already scored. She kept a constant watch on Anthony. Every time she saw him move, she'd follow him with her eyes. So far, it looked like he hadn't spotted anything. Nora was beginning to wonder how long the game would last when she thought she saw something shimmering in the distance. It looked like the Golden Snitch, but to her horror, she realized that they were actually raindrops, reflecting light.

"Shit!" she said out loud as the drops began to cloud her glasses, obscuring her vision. _I'll never be able to see the Snitch in this rain! Maybe I should just take them off. No but then everyone's going to know that I can see without them. Wait…James! He wears glasses. What is he doing? _She saw James all the way on the other side of the pitch_. He's too far away. I can't see a damned thing. Shit, I'm screwed. What was that water repelling charm again? Dammit! I knew I should've paid more attention in Charms class! _

Nora knew she wouldn't be able to see the Snitch through the rain so she decided to just keep an eye on Chang. If he moved, she'd follow him. Loud cheers erupted from the Gryffindor supporters as James just scored another goal; the game was now tied. All Chang or Nora had to do was catch the Snitch and the game would be over. _I just know he's gonna see the Snitch before me and catch it. How am I going to see it through all this rain? I don't want to be the reason we lose the game. It's too embarrassing!_

Just as Nora was thinking about how she would have to hang her head in shame until the next game, she heard a Sirius yell, "Four-eyes, look out!" Nora looked up to see a Bludger heading straight for her. She shielded her face with her hands to ward the whop of the Bludger, and ducked down as much as she could before the blow. But she didn't feel the hard drive of the Bludger. Instead, she felt something small and cold fluttering right in the palm of her hand. She looked down at her hand and saw that she was holding it. The Golden Snitch was in her hand. She felt like the luckiest girl alive at that moment as her teammates all gathered around her, cheering for joy. The Gryffindor supporters in the crowd were all standing and applauding the team.

"Nora!" James exclaimed, pulling her into an exuberant hug. "That was bloody amazing! I mean how you dodged that Bludger and still caught the Snitch, I'll never know. That was some brilliant flying!"

"Yeah, good job, Four-eyes." said Sirius, patting her shoulder. "How did you even see that coming? I'll take back everything I've said about girls and sports. That was wicked."

"Oh, thanks." Nora said feeling a little uncomfortable now. How was she going to tell them that she didn't even know the Snitch was there? The Snitch must have been flying very close to the Bludger and impacted it when struck. Instead of the Bludger hitting Nora, the Snitch did, and it was all just good luck that Nora happened to put her hands in front of her face. They all thought that she could see the Snitch coming towards her and caught it skilfully.

Everyone in the Gryffindor common room that night felt like celebrating, including Nora. She laughed and accepted people's congratulations heartily. She felt a tiny tinge of guilt about allowing them to think that she caught the Snitch on purpose, but she tried to justify herself at the same time. _I could've caught the Snitch if it wasn't for the rain. I mean, that was a close one. I did get really lucky. I'm just going to have to be careful next time. I've got to do something about my glasses so it doesn't happen again…_

* * *

A/N: Okay, folks...what did you think of that? Next chapter should be up shortly. Until then...happy readings! 


	7. Chapter 7

Disclaimer: Anything relating to the Harry Potter stories belongs to J. K. Rowling. She can have my characters and ideas as well.

CHAPTER 7

As Nora and Bert were studying in the library almost a month after the Quidditch match against Ravenclaw, Nora found herself wondering where the time had gone. In all the years she had been attending Hogwarts, she had never been busier. Along with all the work they had to do in their NEWT classes, Nora was busy with Prefect duties and Quidditch practices almost every day. She couldn't remember the last time she had even gone to bed at a decent hour.

Nora dropped her quill down and stretched her arms out. "Man, I am so bloody exhausted." she said with a yawn. "I can't wait until the winter break."

"Well that's still a month and a half away, so you're gonna have to wait." Bert said, rubbing his eyes tiredly.

"Why are _you _so tired? You don't do half of what I do." Nora said picking up her quill to write again.

"I dunno. I think I'm just bored." Bert shrugged and then said, "Hey, why don't we do something tonight?"

"Like what?" Nora asked him.

"Anything. Just chill. We haven't hung out outside of class or the library since school started." he complained.

"Yeah, I know." Nora said apologetically. "But the only thing is that I've got Prefect duty tonight. Maybe we can do something tomorrow?"

"Fine." Bert sulkily. "Man, you're always so busy. It's either Prefect duties or Quidditch practices. Or working on your dumb assignment with Black. I'm starting to feel like _he's_ becoming more of your friend than I am."

"What?" Nora asked incredulously. "Don't be ridiculous. I don't like him more than you. He bugs me too much anyways."

"Who's buggin' you, Four-eyes?" Sirius's voice came from behind Nora. "Tell me. I'll take are of him. Is it Ernie?" He looked over at Bert with a fake scowl.

Bert rolled his eyes and muttered to himself, "For the last time, the name is _Bert_."

"What's that, Ernie?" Sirius asked.

"Nothing." Bert grumbled.

Sirius shrugged his shoulders indifferently and pulled up a chair next to Nora and plopped himself down.

"What're you doing in the library?" Nora asked Sirius curiously.

"Lookin' for you." he answered frankly and moved his chair closer to hers. "I just saw the practice schedule for the next game and the only day we have free is tomorrow. So we'll have to finish our Muggle Studies assignment then."

"Fine, we'll do it in the evening." Nora said. Bert suddenly cleared his throat and looked at Nora angrily. Nora remembered their plans and said, "Oh, shoot. Sorry, Bert. I forgot."

"Forgot what?" Sirius asked.

"We had plans for tomorrow." Nora said.

"Oh. Sorry, I don't mean to spoil your big _date_." Sirius said with a smirk.

"Don't worry about it, Nora." Bert said, ignoring Sirius. "We'll do something when you're not so busy." Nora could tell that Bert was disappointed, but she really didn't have any choice over the matter.

"Oh, guess what happened?" Sirius said, diverting Nora's attention away from Bert and back to him. He began to tell her about something that happened during the day with one of the Slytherin Quidditch team members and he and Nora started to laugh out loud. Nora happened to glance at Bert and saw that he didn't look very amused. In fact, he let out a little huff and started to pack his books away.

"Where are you going?" Nora asked him with some confusion.

"I just remembered, I have to go to a meeting." Bert answered curtly.

"What meeting? You're in almost all my classes." Nora said disbelievingly.

"Divination." he said quickly, getting up. "I'll catch you later. Bye." And he left the library, leaving Nora feeling a little bewildered.

"That was odd." Nora said to Sirius. "I don't think he had a meeting."

Sirius shrugged. "Maybe he did."

"No, I don't think so." she said, frowning a little, "Well I have to go for Prefect duties soon anyways. Have you seen Remus?"

"Yeah." Sirius replied. "He was in the common room with Michelle when I left it."

"I see. He spends a lot of time with Michelle, doesn't he?" she said, a hint of mopiness in her voice.

"Why do _you_ care?" Sirius asked her with suspicion.

"I don't." Nora answered defensively.

"Then why would you notice that he spends a lot of time with Michelle?" he asked again, raising an eyebrow and crossing his arms over his chest.

"I don't know." Nora said, regretting starting the conversation. She packed up her things and said with a shrug, "I'm a very observant person."

'Yeah, especially with your four eyes." he said with a smirk while they both stood up to leave the library.

"Ha." Nora said sarcastically. "You know, your jokes are getting a little repetitive. You need to start coming up with some new material."

"Jokes?" he asked her with confusion. "I never joke. I'm always serious."

* * *

When Nora met Remus in one of the school corridors for Prefect duty later that evening, she noticed that he looked very pale and sickly again. _Man, he looks pretty bad again. Why does he look like this so often? What if he's really sick or something? I wish I had the guts to ask him if he was okay…_

They had been walking in silence for quite some time until Remus suddenly said, "Hey Nora, can I ask you something?"

Nora looked up at Remus and saw that he looked a little anxious. She could feel her heart start to beat a little faster. "Yeah, sure." she tried to say as steadily as she could.

"You're not really tight with Michelle, are you?" he asked her.

"Oh." Nora said, her heart feeling like it had dropped down to her knees. "No, I'm not. She's only really close to Shelby."

"Oh, okay." he said, sounding a little disappointed.

"Why?" Nora found the courage to ask. "Is there something you wanted to ask…her?"

"No." Remus said shaking his head. "It's nothing important…really." Nora could tell there something about Michelle on his mind, and she didn't like it. Remus was relatively quiet throughout their whole round, and Nora was thoroughly miserable.

* * *

Nora's thoughts were still preoccupied with Remus the next afternoon as she made her way down the hall to one of her classes. She was so distracted that she had forgotten her book in her previous class. As soon as she realized this, she quickly turned around to retrieve it, and crashed right into Sirius. He was running in the opposite direction and was caught off guard when she had turned around. He ended up knocking her right onto the ground, and landing on top of her. 

"Sorry, Four-eyes." he said quickly pushing himself off of her. "I didn't see you turn around so quickly. Thanks for breaking my fall."

"Ugh." Nora moaned. "Help me up." Sirius grabbed her hands and pulled her up.

"Are you alri—oh shit!" he exclaimed backing into a wall.

"What?" Nora quickly looked behind her in fright and didn't see anything. She looked up at Sirius and he was looking at her a little worriedly. _What the heck is wrong with him?_ She looked down and saw her glasses on the floor. She quickly bent down, picked them and put them on. "What happened?" Nora asked Sirius again.

"Oh, nothing!" Sirius said quickly. "I just uh…thought I saw something. Must've been Peeves or something." Sirius lied, still looking at Nora anxiously. _Oh my God. _Sirius thought to himself worriedly. _I think I just accidentally hexed her eyes into different colours when I bumped into her! She's going to kill me when she sees them. Quick! Change the subject so she won't think it was you when she notices!_ "Um...oh! Listen, James had to switch practice to today instead of tomorrow."

"Oh, okay." Nora said, wiping the dust off of her clothes.

"So we'll have to meet to do the assignment tomorrow instead." he said.

"Yeah sure." Nora said distractedly. "I'll see you later."

Sirius watched Nora walk away quickly and headed towards his own class. _Shit! What did I do? Maybe I should've just told her! Well, it's a good thing she wears those glasses. You can't tell a thing when she wears them. I'm sure she'll notice by practice tonight and confront me. I'll just pretend I don't know what she's talking about…or better yet, maybe her eyesight is so bad, she'll never notice them! _

* * *

They had been practicing on the Quidditch pitch for an hour later that night before Nora remembered to ask James something. "Hey James," Nora said flying over to where he was hovering, "I wanted to ask you...what's that charm for repelling water? You know for your glasses when it rains and stuff?" 

"Oh!" he said, "It's the _impervius_ charm."

"Right, _that's_ the one." said Nora remembering it finally. "Last game I could barely see through the rain."

"Oh damn, I didn't even realize that. I should've told you about it." he said.

"That's okay. I got lucky last game." Nora said with a smile.

James smiled back at her and said, "Yeah. Whenever I'm playing, I really wish I didn't have such bad eyesight so that I could take off my glasses. Is yours really bad too?"

"Um…no, not _really_." Nora said, feeling a little guilty. Sirius flew up to them, laughing as usual, cracking some private joke to James.

He then flew up to Nora and said, "Everything alright, Four-eyes?"

"Yeah, fine." Nora replied looking down the pitch for the Snitch.

"Cool." he said, looking at her intently. "So…nothing strange happen to you today?"

"Uh…not that I can thing of." Nora said, taking her eyes away from the pitch and looking at Sirius peculiarly.

"Alright, then. Carry on." he said nodding to her and flying away.

_That was strange_. Nora said to herself. _He's been acting a little funny today…_

* * *

"Sirius did you read the assignment?" Nora asked him the next day while they were sitting in an empty classroom together starting to work on their Muggle Studies work. 

"Not yet. Why?" he asked her.

"Well, it's just a bit odd. Read it." Nora passed him their assignment sheet and Sirius began to skim through it.

"Hmm." he said, still reading it. "So we're supposed to tell each other something that nobody else knows about us and write about it."

"Yeah like a dark secret or something ridiculous like that." Nora said.

"Hmm." he frowned. "I don't have any secrets."

"Neither do I. Well, not _really_ anyways." Nora said, thinking about Remus and her glasses. _Well, Bert knows about both of those things so they're technically not secrets._

"Well, we have to write about _something_." Sirius said. "I guess there are a couple of things that only my really close friends know about me…" _Hmm,_ Sirius thought to himself, _there's no way I can tell her about **one** of those things. I'll just have to tell her about this summer. That should be good enough. I don't really care if she knows anyways. _

"But it says here that we're not allowed to tell anyone else this secret. We'll be bound to it and if we do tell anyone, we'll be penalized. Our mark will automatically go down." Nora said.

"So it's basically an assignment about trust." Sirius deduced.

"I guess. Kinda lame, isn't it? What does this have to do with what we're studying, anyways?" Nora asked.

Sirius shrugged. "It's...interesting." He leaned back into his chair and gave Nora a cheeky grin. "So spill your guts."

"No you tell me first. I'm still deciding on what to tell you." Nora said. _What do I tell him? About Remus? Or my glasses? He'll be bound to secrecy, so maybe if I tell him about Remus, he can help me out! But, then again, I don't really want him to know about that. It's too embarrassing. I'll tell him about my glasses. He'll probably think I'm a freak! Oh well, I don't really care what he thinks…do I? _

"Ooh, so you have more than one secret, eh? Tell me the juicier one." he said plopping his chair back down.

"Yeah right." Nora scoffed. "So you start. I'll write."

"Okay, fine." Sirius moved his chair closer to Nora and said, "I ran away from home last summer."

"You _what_?" Nora asked, looking surprised.

"Ran away from home. Left it for good. I spent the summer at the Potter's." Sirius said indifferently.

"You're kidding." Nora said, her eyes wide. "Why'd you leave?"

"Aah, my family's a little messed up. A bunch of pure-blood maniacs. I just don't agree with any of their ideologies. Makes me sick, actually. I don't even like to think about it." Sirius said, running his hands through his hair and leaning back into his chair.

"Wait, isn't your brother in fifth year?" Nora asked him.

"Yeah, we don't talk." Sirius said quickly. "He's been totally brainwashed by their thinking."

"That's awful." Nora said sympathetically. "Actually, I think I remember your cousin from a few years ago when she was here. What was her name? Narcissa?"

"Ugh." Sirius shuddered. "Yeah."

"She cornered me in the hall one day and was going on about how we pure-bloods shouldn't be associating with other people. Called me a blood-traitor just 'cause I was friends with Bert."

"It's all rubbish." Sirius said, "Well, according to them, _I _am the biggest blood-traitor of them all. My mother actually blasted my name off the family tree." Nora was looking right into Sirius's eyes when he spoke. She knew he had nice eyes, but she never saw them up so close. They were a very cool grey, with tiny specs of brown around the pupils. She suddenly saw him differently at that moment. He wasn't the same cocky jock that just enjoyed teasing people. He was a person who had been brought up in a privileged background by people who looked down and others, and still turned out to be a decent, down-to-earth guy.

"Well," said Nora, prying her eyes away from his. "I guess I might as well just tell you my secret. Although now it'll seem quite petty next to yours..."

"Who cares." he said, moving closer to her and looking at her intently. "What is it?"

She sighed and pointed to her eyes. "This."

"Your glasses?" Sirius asked with uncertainty.

"Yeah." Nora nodded. "I don't need them."

"What do you mean?" he asked her, looking puzzled.

Nora bent her face down and took off her glasses and said in a muffled voice without looking up, "Well, you see…my eyes…"

"Yeah?" Sirius asked, moving closer to her.

"Well look at them." Nora said finally looking up at Sirius. She bit her lip nervously. It was the first time she was letting anyone besides Bert see her eyes and it made her feel very self-concious.

Sirius peered into one eye and then the other. "Are they…?" He was afraid of asking the question himself, just in case she was trying to tell him something else.

"Yes, they are both a different color." Nora said bluntly.

"They are?" he asked, obviously pretending he didn't notice. _Oh, thank God! It wasn't me!_

"It's okay, Sirius." Nora said, feeling slightly peeved. "You don't have to pretend not to notice. I know the difference in them is very apparent. That's why I wear these stupid glasses. So people don't stare at me and think I'm some kind of freak."

"What?" Sirius said incredulously. "They aren't _freaky_. I mean okay they _are _a little different. But they're definitely not ugly-weird or anything."

Nora smiled at him. "Well, maybe you're the only one who'd think that. But I know that most people will think I'm odd. I mean, when I was younger, kids used to tease me and called me 'freak-eyes'."

"Hmm, Freak-eyes." Sirius said, contemplating the name. "I think I like that one."

Nora glared at him and he quickly said with a nervous grin, "Just kidding."

"Anyways," Nora said, putting her glasses back on. She leaned forward on her desk and rested her chin on her clasped hands with a sigh. "This is why I wear glasses. I'd rather people call me 'four-eyes' than anything else."

Sirius stared at Nora in silence for a moment, and then suddenly leaned really close to her. He pulled her glasses down her nose with his index finger and gazed in her eyes. Nora raised her eyebrows at him in wonder, and then he pushed her glasses back up.

"What?" Nora asked him with a frown. But, before Sirius could say anything, James walked into the classroom.

"Here you are." he said to Sirius. "I've been looking everywhere for you."

"Why? What's up?" he asked James.

"Moony is waiting for us. He's getting _late_." James said. Nora's attention shot up at the mention of Remus's nickname.

"Oh, shit!" Sirius exclaimed. "I totally forgot."

"Where are you guys going?" Nora asked with concern.

"Oh, nowhere. We just have some stuff to do." Sirius said casually. "I guess we're done the assignment, right? I'll catch you tomorrow in class."

"Yeah, sure." Nora said, eyeing the boys suspiciously as they left the room in a hurry. _Okay something is definitely going on here, and I'm going to find out. _

* * *

A/N: So I fixed this chapter up quite a bit. Hope you liked it! Send me some reviews if you did...or didn't for that matter. hehe 


	8. Chapter 8

Disclaimer: Anything relating to the Harry Potter stories belongs to J. K. Rowling. She can have my characters and ideas as well.

CHAPTER 8

"Oh, no." Nora sighed, resting her head on the table. This was the last thing she wanted to hear. She was exhausted from the night before. After Sirius and James had left her, she stayed up until very late in the night in the common room, waiting for them to come back. When the clock had struck two, she decided to give up and turn herself into her bed. She woke up late and missed breakfast, and had just barely made to class on time.

She took the first seat she could find and had just heard the professor of her Muggle Studies class say, "Congratulations! You are all going to be parents!" Nora kept her head on the table, listening to what the professor had to say. She explained that each couple would be given a magical egg, which would be representing a baby. They were going to have to feed it, change its diapers, and above all, make sure that no harm came to it.

"Oi!" Nora felt a tap on her arm and lifted her head up to see a grinning Sirius, "Who you been messing around with, woman? I know it's not _my_ baby!" Nora gave him a quick scowl and rested her head back down.

"What's wrong with you?" he asked her, taking the empty seat next to her. "Didn't get any sleep last night?"

"Not really." she answered in a muffled voice.

"Why not?" he asked her.

"Because I…" _Wait a minute_, Nora thought before saying anything else_, I can't tell him what I was doing._ "I just couldn't fall asleep, that's all."

"Oh, here come the babies." Sirius said as the magical eggs were being passed around the room. He picked up theirs and said affectionately, "Aww, it looks just like you."

"Very funny." Nora said sarcastically with her head still down.

"Let's give it a name." Sirius said thoughtfully. "Hmm…how about Yolk?"

"_Yolk_?" Nora asked, finally lifting her head up. "You've got to be kidding me. Why would you name the baby _Yolk_?"

"Well, 'cause its an egg. And the yolk is the best part." Sirius said matter-of-factly.

"Ew, no," Nora argued, "the white part is the best."

"Well, we can't call it _White Black_ now can we?" Sirius retorted.

"Wait a minute. Who says it gets to have _your_ last name?" Nora asked Sirius, her lack of sleep crankiness starting to get the best of her.

"_I _do! I'm the man, so he gets _my_ last name!" he answered firmly.

"_He_? So it's a boy now too?" she asked incredulously.

"Ooh, it looks like you guys aren't going to get anywhere." Shelby said as she and James walked over to where they were sitting. "James and I have already named _our_ baby."

"Really? What did you guys name it?" Nora asked them.

"Well, first of all we decided to make it a girl." James said.

"And we named her Millie." Shelby said proudly.

"Millie?" Nora repeated and muttered. "Interesting name."

"Millie." Sirius said looking deep in thought. "Hey! That rhymes with—"

James suddenly cleared his throat violently and said, "So! You guys don't know what to name yours yet?"

"We don't even know the sex yet." Nora said sullenly.

"I thought we agreed on a boy!" Sirius exclaimed.

"No we didn't!" Nora said and took a deep breath, "But, okay _fine_. It can be a boy. But we're not naming him Yolk!"

"Aw, come on. It would've been cool." Sirius said, tenderly stroking his egg. "Yolk Black."

"Hmm," said James, looking at Sirius's egg. "It does have a nice ring to it."

"You guys are mental." Nora said, shaking her head in disapproval.

"Don't you have a sense of humour?" Sirius asked her.

"Yes I do. That's just not funny." Nora replied dryly.

"It is!" Sirius said defensively.

"Okay, you know what?" Nora said exasperatedly. "Name the damn thing Yolk. I don't care."

"Hey!" Sirius said covering the egg's nonexistent ears. "Watch your language in front of the baby!" James and Shelby laughed at Sirius and then got up to return to their desks.

"Alright." Nora said, ignoring him and reading the assignment instructions. "So we have to split the babysitting times."

"How about we just split up so you get it in the morning, I'll get it in the afternoon, and then you get it in the night, and then I'll take it in the morning and so on." Sirius suggested.

"Yeah whatever that's fine." Nora said distractedly and put down the instructions.

"You don't seem very interested in this." Sirius said, frowning at her.

Nora shrugged. "Just got a lot on my mind. Wait, so how are we going to watch it during Quidditch practice tonight?"

"Um…" Sirius thought for a moment, "We'll get a babysitter."

"Okay, we can ask Remus." Nora said, remembering that Remus usually watched their practices.

"Er…no he's not going to be able to baby-sit." Sirius said quickly.

"Why not?" Nora asked, feeling alarmed again.

"He's…got something else to do. He won't be at practice." Sirius said vaguely.

"Okay." Nora said, getting very curious and worried at the same time. "What is going—"

"Hey!" Sirius interrupted her. "We can ask Ernie to watch him."

"Oh." Nora said, realizing that was a better idea. "Yeah sure, Bert was going to come to practice anyways." Before Nora could bring up the subject of Remus again, Sirius suddenly remembered he had to ask James something and got up to walk over to his desk, leaving Nora full of conjectures.

* * *

Later that evening before they had to leave for Quidditch practice, Nora, Sirius, James, and Shelby were sitting in the common room, discussing their new assignment. Nora, who still didn't get a chance to confront Sirius about Remus, had plopped herself on the ground near the fireplace and was working on another assignment for her Potions class. Sirius was lounging lazily in a chair close to her, and Shelby and James were sitting quite comfortably together on a nearby sofa. Shelby was just talking about how many other children she wanted to have when Lily walked into the common room. 

"Oh, hey Lily!" Shelby squealed in delight. "Did you hear the good news? James and I are parents!"

"You guys didn't waste any time, did you?" Lily said not bothering to stop.

"Hey! Where are you going? Don't you want to know what we named our baby?" James asked her. Lily stopped walking and came closer to them.

"What?" she asked in a bored tone, noticing how close Shelby was sitting next to James.

"Millie." Shelby said smugly.

"Millie Potter." Lily said out loud. She looked at James and saw that he had a smirk on his face.

She tried to control the tugging feeling creeping up her lips and then Sirius said, "You know James, I think the name that _I_ came up with for you guys was better."

"Oh shut up, Black." Shelby said angrily. "It was a stupid name."

"Well, I just mashed up your last names together. I thought it was ingeniously clever." Sirius said with a grin.

"Yeah, like _Yolk_, right?" James asked.

"Yolk?" Lily asked with a smile and looked at Nora who gave her a "don't ask" shake of the head.

"Yup. Yolk Black. Kinda cool isn't it?" Sirius said proudly.

"Very." Lily said amusedly. "So what name did you come up with for James and Shelby's baby?"

Sirius looked at Lily with a wicked grin and said, "Port-a-Potty."

* * *

More than a week had gone by and Nora was feeling pretty good. They had creamed the Slytherin Quidditch team the night before and were now the highest ranking team. Her classes were all going well and Remus was finally acting like himself again during their Prefect rounds together, making her temporarily forget about his frequent absences.The days were getting colder but the prospect of a Hogsmeade weekend kept everyone feeling warm inside, and Nora was no exception. She couldn't wait to stroll the streets of the magical village with Bert, loading up on sweet goodies from Honeydukes and browsing the new inventions at Zonko's Joke Shop. 

The girls were in their dorm, getting ready to leave for Hogsmeade when Nora's attention was caught on a conversation Michelle and Shelby were having with each other.

"So are you gonna tell him?" Shelby asked Michelle while furiously applying large amounts of blush to her cheeks. _Him?_ Nora thought to herself while folding up her pyjamas.

"I dunno." Michelle said, brushing her hair. "Should I?"

"Why not?" Shelby asked her. "Go for it. What's the worst that can happen?"

"Uh…well, let's see. He can freak out and never talk to me again?" Michelle answered in a sarcastic tone. _Shit_. Nora thought, pretending not to listen to their conversation. _They're talking about Remus. What does she want to say to him?_

"No, he wouldn't do that. He's too nice." Shelby said.

"Yeah that's true." Michelle agreed.

"So do you think he feels the same way?" Shelby asked her curiously.

"I think so." Michelle said in a hopeful manner. _What?_ Nora felt terrible. _How could he like her? Is he crazy? She's so…ugh. _

"So do it." Shelby said firmly.

"Okay, I'll see." Michelle said and they both left the dorm.

Nora felt sick to her stomach. _Oh no. Why today? Why do they have to ruin my trip?_

She sat down on her bed for a minute and tried to recollect herself. _Bert's going to be waiting for me. I better just go. _Nora grabbed her wallet and headed down the stairs into the common room.

"Hey, Four-eyes." Sirius, who was leaning against the back of a chair said as she walked by. "Why so glum? Today is supposed to be a good day!"

"Yeah right." Nora mumbled walking towards the portrait hole.

"Oh, and don't worry about little Yolk! Never mind that _you_ were supposed to have him this morning." he called out from behind her. "I'll keep him now but you have to take him in the afternoon!"

"Yeah, yeah." She waved him off, too distracted to care, and left the common room.

Bert was waiting for her on the school grounds and they started their trek towards the village. Nora told Bert everything she had heard in her dorm.

"Well," Bert tried to reason with her after she finished telling him. "We don't know for _sure_ if she was talking about Remus."

"Please, Bert." Nora said rolling her eyes. "It's Michelle we're talking about. Who else can it be?"

"Okay, okay." Bert agreed with her quickly. "But we don't know if Remus would actually like her back."

"Who knows? She seems to think he does." Nora said glumly.

"Yeah but he's a nice guy. Maybe he gives every girl that impression." Bert suggested.

"Hmm." Nora frowned thoughtfully. "Maybe he does."

"Anyways don't let it ruin our day. We finally get to hang out together. She'll probably chicken out and not say anything."

"Yeah. That's true." Nora said, feeling lighter already. "She said she'd _see_ anyways. Hey! Let's go check out Honeydukes. I'm starving!"

Nora and Bert spent the next few hours at Honeydukes, Zonko's, and a Quidditch supplies store. They finally settled down on a comfortable patch of grass and sorted through their booty.

"Hey guys!" a cheerful voice coming towards them said. Nora looked up and saw Lily, smiling with her own bag of pleasurable delights. Bert quickly put down the chocolate fudge he was eating and started fixing up his hair, getting bits of fudge into it. Lily sat down on the grass with them.

"Ooh," she said, looking at their pile, "looks like you guys got those new sugary sour sticks too. I got the blue ones. I couldn't decide on purple or red. They're supposed to fizz up in your mouth or something. Did you try one yet, Bert?"

Bert, who was just staring at Lily the whole time she was speaking could only utter an unintelligible, "Mbmpf."

Nora, who knew that Bert's brain tended to suddenly turn off every time Lily was around, came to his rescue and said to Lily, "So have you seen Sirius or any of those guys around?"

"Yeah." Lily said, her cheerful expression suddenly turning cold. "I saw them at Zonko's. They were goofing around, as usual. Showing off in front of a bunch of giggly girls."

"Oh, I see." Nora said, wondering why she was so annoyed. "I have to take Yolk from Sirius soon."

"Well, I'm sure Shelby has to take _their_ baby away from James soon too." Lily said, her face still very cool.

"Oh, yeah, probably. Oh look there she is over there." Nora said looking up. Shelby was running down a street.

"What is she doing?" Lily asked, looking at Shelby confusedly.

"It looks like she's running after someone." Nora said standing up to get a better look. "Is that Michelle?" She could see a very distraught-looking Michelle running away and Shelby chasing her, calling her name and telling her to stop.

"Looks like it." Lily said, getting up as well. "She looks like she's crying or something."

A promising thought had just crossed Nora's mind when she saw Sirius and James coming up towards them.

"Hey!" James said, "Have you guys seen Remus?"

"No." Lily said, looking very indifferent again.

"Oh, he just disappeared." James said, looking a little puzzled. Nora, who was putting together the fact that Remus was missing and Michelle was crying, started to feel a little hopeful.

"Oi, Four-eyes!" Sirius said, getting Nora's attention. "It's your turn now to watch over little Yolkie."

"Oh, yeah." Nora said. "Give him to me."

"Yeah he's right—" Sirius's face suddenly looked pale. He looked in his bags and then turned out his pockets. He looked up at Nora and said, "Oh, shit."

* * *

A/N: Hehehehehe...I didn't change much with this chapter so I'm gonna just post it up. Two chapters in one day. Yey! Send me a review if you're not busy. Hehe... 


	9. Chapter 9

Disclaimer: Anything relating to the Harry Potter stories belongs to J. K. Rowling. She can have my characters and ideas as well.

CHAPTER 9

"Sirius." Nora said, glaring at him. "Don't even tell me you lost—"

"No wait!" Sirius interrupted her, still looking through all of his bags. "I had him…he was with me the whole time!"

"Then what did you do with him?" Nora asked him angrily.

"I can't remember!" Sirius exclaimed, his face looking very tense. "I think I left him somewhere in one of the shops."

"Which shop?" Lily asked.

"I have no idea!" Sirius said, looking bewildered, and then turned to James and asked, "Where's _your_ egg?"

"Shelby's had her the whole morning." he answered.

"Son of a AARRRRGG!" Sirius said frustratingly and dropped his bags on the ground.

If it weren't for the fact that Nora had just found a reason to feel optimistic about Remus not having feelings for Michelle, she would have been extremely angry. She could tell that Sirius was genuinely worried about their egg, with his head hanging down pathetically, and walked up to him.

"Okay, Sirius." said Nora, taking his arm and pulling him away from their friends and towards the busy street. "There's no time to cry. Let's just go and find it."

"Bloody hell." Sirius muttered, letting Nora lead the way. "I can't remember where I left him. He's probably all alone. And scared!"

"Oh gees." Nora said rolling her eyes. "You should listen to yourself. You just came from Madam Rosmerta's didn't you? How much did you have to drink?"

"Er…" Sirius said trying to think, "Not that much. I just had a couple of butterbeers and a firewhiskey."

"Firewhiskey?" Nora asked with some disapprovement. "No wonder. Okay let's go there first."

"Oh, God!" Sirius suddenly stopped, looking pale. "What if I accidentally dropped him on the ground and some jackass stepped on him?"

"Then I'll make sure I step on _you_. Come on. You're just wasting time!" Nora said urgently, pulling Sirius forward and into the bar.

The Three Broomsticks, the inn that Madam Rosmerta owned, was packed with students. She was standing behind the bar, serving a bunch of fourth years some butterbeers, when she saw Sirius and said with a smile, "Oh, are you back for another, then? You brought your girlfriend this time?" Nora made a bit of a disgusted face when Madam Rosmerta referred to her as Sirius's girlfriend and Sirius just laughed.

"No, she's not my girlfriend. She's my _wife_." he said, elbowing Nora in her side.

"What? And you didn't invite me to the wedding?" Madam Rosmerta asked with a grin, as she wiped the counter with an old rag.

Nora gave Sirius a dangerous looking scowl and he stopped smiling. He cleared his throat and tried to say in a more serious manner, "Actually, we're just doing a school project together, and I seem to have misplaced our baby—I mean this egg. You haven't seen it around, have you?"

"Well," she said, putting down the rag and looking under the bar. "The only eggs I've seen around here, are these." She pulled up a jar of pickled eggs and put them in front of Nora and Sirius. They both stared at the dozens of eggs immersed in the green liquid, and felt a little queasy.

"You think Yolkie's in there?" Sirius whispered to Nora, peering into the jar, his face a little pale again.

"Don't be daft." Nora scolded him. She grabbed his arm again and tugged him towards the exit. "Come on. Let's get out of here. Where else did you guys go?"

The next place they headed to was Honeydukes. The store, being the most popular of all, was still full of students, and Sirius and Nora had to cut through everyone just check out all of the stalls and shelves. Sirius saw one of their classmates, Dana Abbott, inside the sweetshop and asked her if she had seen their egg.

"Ooh." Dana said, looking at Nora and Sirius with insincere pity. "Did you guys lose it? You're going to fail the project!"

"Okay, _thanks._" Nora said sarcastically, feeling irritated. "We already _know_ that. We want to know if you've seen it around."

"No, I haven't." Dana said sharply, looking offended.

"Alright, Four-eyes, let's get out of here before you accidentally hex someone." Sirius said, leading a heated Nora out of the shop. _Man, she's got a bit of a sharp tongue, doesn't she? Hmm…I kind of dig it. _

By the time they were out of the Quidditch supplies stores, with no luck in finding Yolk, Nora was starting to get a headache. Over-consumption of the chocolate she had eaten all afternoon and the stress of losing their egg baby was getting to her. She stopped walking for a moment, took off her glasses and rubbed the bridge of her nose.

"What's the matter?" Sirius asked her. Nora looked up at Sirius and he could see the sunlight reflecting in her eyes. _Boy, she looks so different without those glasses on. I dunno why she's so embarrassed about her eyes. So what if they're different? They're cool! Actually…_Sirius swiftly scanned his eyes down Nora. _Four-eyes isn't so bad looking now that I look at her._

"Nothing." Nora answered him, making him jump out of his reverie. "Just getting a headache."

"Well it's probably from your stupid glasses. Don't wear them." Sirius said sternly.

Nora glared at him for a moment and then put them back on defiantly and started walking again. "I'll just get more stressed if I take them off."

"You're one weird chick." Sirius said, shaking his head. "I dunno why I married you."

"I wonder the same thing every day." Nora replied back dryly. "You can't even keep an egg safe."

When they reached the last shop Sirius had been to, Zonko's Joke Shop, and entered the store, Sirius suddenly slapped his head and exclaimed, "Hang on a minute!"

"What?" Nora asked him, with a puzzled gaze.

Sirius walked over to a stall and said while miming his actions, "We were standing here and I was trying on these x-ray vision spectacles. I gave Yolk to James to hold for a second." Sirius stared at the spectacles for a moment and dropped them exclaiming, "He never gave it back to me! Quickly! Let's go!" This time, Sirius was the one to yank Nora's arm and drag her out of the store.

They ran back to where they left Lily, James and Bert and found them all milling around on the grass, talking and nibbling on their sweets.

"Oi, Prongs!" Sirius called out to James, who turned his head towards them. "Where'd you put Yolkie? I gave him to _you_ at Zonko's, remember?"

James looked confused for a moment but then a realization seemed to dawn on him. "Oh bugger." he said looking very guilty. "Yeah you did…but wait, I gave him to Shelby!"

"Shelby?" Nora asked angrily and Lily gave James a scowl. "Why'd you do that?"

"'Cause I wanted to test out those x-ray vision spectacles and she was standing close by so I asked her if she could hold him for a sec." James explained.

"Good one, Potter." Lily said, shaking her head in reprehension.

"Blast it, now we have to find Shelby." Sirius said tiredly to Nora. "Come on, let's go."

"Oh, dear." Nora said, remembering what had happened earlier in the day. "I think she's with Michelle."

"Well obviously. She's always with Michelle." Sirius said as they walked up High Street.

"Yeah but I think she was upset or something." Nora said.

"Who? Shelby?" Sirius asked.

"No, Michelle." replied Nora.

"Why?" he asked.

"Well, I'm not _exactly_ sure, but I think it _might_ have something to do with Remus." Nora answered.

"What do you mean?" Sirius questioned her as they headed in the direction that Nora last saw Michelle and Shelby running towards.

"Okay, well don't tell anyone anything, but when I was getting ready to leave today, I heard them talking. And Michelle was saying how she was going to tell _him_ how she feels..." Nora told Sirius in a low voice.

"_Him_?" He looked at Nora confusedly.

"Yeah I'm pretty sure it was Remus. Everyone knows that she likes him." she said, her voice sounding a little bitter.

"Yeah…I guess." Sirius said while a suspicion started to creep into his mind. _Hmm…is that why she was so angry this morning? Four-eyes doesn't like Remus, does she?_

"So yeah," Nora continued on with her story, "before you and James came down, we just saw Michelle running off and crying and Shelby was chasing after her."

"Oh…that makes sense now." Sirius said, as if everything was now coming into place. "Michelle and Shelby saw us at Zonko's and she told Remus that she wanted to talk to him…in private. That's why Shelby was there with us. Because Michelle left her to go with Remus."

"Yeah." Nora said. She could feel an involuntary smile tugging at her lips. It was one of those moments when you were supposed to act serious or concerned, but somehow the mere restriction of laughing makes the situation just seem more comical.

"What're you smiling about?" Sirius said, looking at her quizzically.

"Nothing." Nora said quickly, trying to cover up her smile by frowning, but the mere thought of a hysterical Michelle running across the street and a bewildered Shelby trailing to keep up with her, made it harder for her to do.

"What?" Sirius asked her, starting to smile himself. _What the hell are we so happy about?_

"I don't know." Nora said, starting to feel a giggle come up. She covered her mouth to stop from smiling but seeing Sirius smile back at her made her laugh.

She kept her mouth covered, trying to stifle her laughter, until they heard a dry voice next to them say, "What the heck are you two so happy about?"

Nora and Sirius saw Remus staring at them with a puzzled frown on his face. Nora and Sirius looked at each other and burst out with laughter. Remus just stood there, gaping at them like they were crazy. It suddenly occurred to Nora, as she was clutching her stomach, that it was _Remus_ who was standing there staring at her like she was completely bonkers and she immediately stopped laughing. She could feel her face go a little warm and she cleared her throat, making Sirius stop laughing as well.

"Are you guys okay?" Remus asked, looking at them curiously.

"Fine, mate." Sirius answered, letting out a tired breath and running his hands through his hair, "Listen, we got a bit of a problem. We lost little Yolkie and we think Shelby might have him. Have you seen her?"

"Er…" Remus said hesitantly, "She's probably with Michelle. And last I saw her, she was running towards the lake."

"Oh…was that bad, eh?" Sirius said with a hint of a smirk.

"Don't even ask." Remus said with a guilty look on his face.

"Okay, I'll ask later then. We've gotta go find our baby!" Sirius said in a rush as he and Nora headed towards the lake.

"Remus must think I'm mental." Nora whispered to Sirius as they walked away. "I was laughing like a hyena."

"So what? It's just Remus." Sirius said. "You were laughing with me. _I_ don't think you're mental."

"Yeah, but that's different." Nora said.

"Why? What's the difference between me and Remus?" Sirius asked, looking at her suspiciously again.

But before Nora could answer the question, she spotted Shelby and Michelle, sitting on the ground near the water. Michelle looked like she was still crying, and Shelby was trying to comfort her.

"Hey Porter!" Sirius called. Shelby and Michelle both looked up at them. "Where's my Yolkie?"

"Huh?" Shelby said, looking confused. When she realized a second later that Sirius was talking about his egg she suddenly exclaimed, "Oh, shit! My baby!" She jumped up and started to run back towards the street, leaving an upset Michelle behind. Nora and Sirius caught up with Shelby and Nora asked her what had happened to the eggs.

"I was holding them right outside of Zonko's." she explained breathlessly, all three of them still running towards the shops. "And as soon as I saw that Michelle was upset, I put them and all my bags on the ground and just chased after her." As soon as they reached the door of the store, Shelby let out a curse. "They're not here! Who took them?"

They looked around the street and asked a few people if they had seen anything. It wasn't until they spoke to an old witch, feeding her cat on the sidewalk that they found out what had happened. "There were a group of boys…about three of them. They looked younger than yourselves. They picked up the bags and headed in that direction." she said as she pointed down a dark alleyway.

They thanked the woman for her help and followed her lead. They heard the voices of some boys talking and laughing. Sirius stopped as if recognizing the voice and said in an annoyed tone, "Oh, great."

"What is it?" Nora asked Sirius, whispering. But he didn't have to answer her because walking towards them and holding both of the eggs was Regulus, Sirius's little brother.

* * *

A/N: Hmm...this chapter didn't need too much editing either. I think the later chapters weren't as bad as the earliers so I might be posting even a couple of chapters a day. Well, enjoy! Ooh and send me some reviews! 


	10. Chapter 10

Disclaimer: Anything relating to the Harry Potter stories belongs to J. K. Rowling. She can have my characters and ideas as well.

CHAPTER 10

Nora glanced at Sirius and saw his face turn a little cold as he was looked at his little brother. Regulus and his friends, who were munching on Shelby's sweets that she had bought and left with the eggs, stopped in their tracks as soon as they saw the three older students. Regulus, who Nora thought looked like a younger version of his brother, stared back at Sirius, with disgust written all over his face.

Their apparent staring contest was only broken when a voice from behind Nora said, "Hey, what's going on back here?"

Sirius turned around to face Remus, who said, "I just remembered that I saw Shelby leave her bags outside of Zonko's so I came to tell you guys, but didn't see you. Some old woman told me you guys came this way. Did you find your eggs?"

Sirius moved over slightly to his left to reveal Regulus, holding the eggs.

"Oh." Remus said, now comprehending the situation.

"So these are _your_ eggs." Regulus said with a cool smile.

"No, one of them is _mine_." Shelby said, looking very defiant.

"Shut up, Mudblood." Regulus said, looking at her with repugnance.

Sirius, Remus, and Nora all instinctively pulled out their wands and pointed them at the younger boys. They dropped the sweets they were holding and pulled their wands out as well.

"Hey." Sirius said sternly to his brother. "Watch your filthy mouth. Just give me the damn eggs, and get the hell out of here."

"You can't tell me what to do." Regulus said insolently, juggling Yolk and Millie carelessly, while his friends sniggered behind him. Nora held her breath every time Regulus caught the eggs. _Please don't drop them._

"If you give me the eggs right now, we won't hurt you." Sirius said, stepping closer to Regulus, his wand still in his hand.

"Oh, please," Regulus said in a bored tone, and stuck the eggs in his pocket. "I don't think a couple of blood traitors, a Mudblood and a freak are going to be able to hurt me."

"What _freak_?" Nora said, thinking that he was talking about her and feeling deeply offended.

"_Him_." Regulus sneered, looking at Remus. "Snape told us to watch out for him. He's some kind of half-breed."

"Well Snape's a greasy, lying piece of crap that you shouldn't listen to!" Nora said heatedly, her wand still pointed at them.

Sirius, who felt just as angry at Regulus's words, stole Nora a quick glance. He didn't turn to look at Remus, knowing that if he did, they would know there was some bit of truth in what Regulus had said. Sirius focused back on his brother, his eyes dangerously stormy, and walked up to him swiftly. Regulus, who was now looking up to face his big brother, looked pathetically small. Sirius suddenly yanked Regulus by the collar, over to the side of the alley, and pushed him against the wall.

"I'm not afraid of you." Regulus said quietly, his eyes full of fear.

"Shut up." Sirius said coolly, still pinning him against the wall. "I don't ever want to hear you talking shit about my friends again. Do you understand me?"

Regulus kept his gaze down, not answering him and Sirius shook him, "Hey! I said do you understand me?"

Regulus looked up at his brother and said quietly, "Mother was right about you. You are a disappointment."

"I don't care what that miserable old hag has to say about me, so quit changing the subject." Sirius said indifferently.

Regulus looked back down to the ground and Sirius sighed. "One of these days, you're going to find out that our family and the rest of these Pureblood maniacs are completed screwed in the head. I just hope it won't be too late by then." Regulus looked up again at his brother, frowning in confusion. "Now gimme those eggs before I hurt you trying to get them myself."

Regulus, who knew he wouldn't be able to beat Sirius in a fight or duel, reluctantly fished out the eggs from his pocket and gave them to his brother. "That's a good boy." Sirius said, cracking a small smile and ruffling his brother's hair a little, knowing it would embarrass him in front of his friends. Regulus scowled at Sirius and walked to his friends, who were still standing with their wands out in front of Nora, Remus, and Shelby. He jerked his head in a way to tell them "let's go" and they walked away.

Nora didn't lower her wand until they were out of sight. She looked over at Sirius, who just gave Shelby Millie, and saw that he looked a little upset. Remus who hadn't said anything since he first saw them in the alley, patted Sirius's arm and said quietly, "Come on. Let's get out of here."

Nora glanced at Shelby and saw her cooing her egg. "Do you think they hurt them?" she asked Nora.

"Doesn't look like it. They should be okay." Nora replied quietly as they all headed back to the spot where James, Lily and Bert were sitting. She kept looking up at Sirius and Remus, knowing that there was something bothering the both of them. _Why would Snape tell those boys lies about Remus? What does he have against him? Sirius must be so mad at his brother...I kinda feel sorry for him. It must be tough having to hate your own family so much._

Nora was relieved to see everyone still sitting in the same spot when they reached it. The awkward silence was really starting to bother her.

"Oh, there you guys are!" James said to them. "Did you find your eggs?"

"Yep." Shelby said and went on to relate the whole story of what happened to Lily and James. Nora went and sat next to Bert, who was listening intently to Shelby speak. When Shelby told them about what Regulus said about Remus, James became livid.

"What did that greasy git Snape tell them? I'm going to go find him right now and give him a piece of my mind…or my foot in his ass." he said angrily getting up from the ground.

"No, James. Forget it." Remus said, holding him back. "It's not worth it."

"Yeah, James." Lily said gently. "Nobody is going to believe any silly rumors Snape has to say. Especially about Remus." She smiled warmly at Remus. Nora looked up at Remus and thought she could see his face turn slightly pink.

"Fine." James said, and reluctantly sat back down. "But if I hear anything else about this coming from him, nobody is going to stop me."

Remus sat himself down next to Sirius, who Nora was surprised to find, was staring right at her. She looked right back at him, furrowing her brows a little, and he narrowed his eyes at her, as if he was trying to find something out.

Nora was a little curious to know what he could possibly be thinking while staring at her with that odd knowing look, but because everyone was around them she resorted to just asking, "How's Yolkie?"

Sirius blinked, finally looking away from her and pulled their egg out of his pocket. He moved across the grass to sit next to her and said quietly, examining the egg, "He looks okay. I don't think they did anything." He put Yolk in her hand, touching the tips of her fingers as he released it. He felt an odd shiver go through him and he shuddered a little.

"What was that?" Nora asked him, noticing it.

"Oh, just cold." Sirius said quickly. _What the hell **was** that?_ He asked himself.

"Yeah it is getting colder now." Nora agreed with him. "It's starting to get dark too. We should probably head back to school." Nora looked up at Remus and saw that he had a very far away look on his face. He looked in her direction for a second and caught her gaze. He looked over at Sirius for a moment and then back at Nora and gave her a tiny smile. Nora felt very puzzled at first, and then felt her face go instantly hot when she realized what he was thinking. _NO!_ She left like screaming to him. _Don't think anything like that! I don't like **him**. I like **you**_!

Nora was too flustered to face either Remus or Sirius, so she turned to Bert and said, "Hey, let's go. I'm getting really cold."

They all got up to head back to the castle when Shelby suddenly gasped, "Oh my God! Michelle! I completely forgot about her!" She was about to run off when James suddenly stopped her.

"Oi!" He said. "Gimme back my baby before you go! I don't want to lose her again." Shelby gave Millie back to James, her face in a slight pout, and ran off to find her forgotten friend by the lake.

* * *

After all the commotion that had happened the day before, Nora was glad to finally be alone with Bert. They hadn't gotten a chance to sit together and talk about what occurred, and Nora was just bursting to tell him everything in detail. It was a lazy Sunday afternoon and most of the Hogwarts students were too tired from their Hogsmeade trip to do anything productive. Nora and Bert were no exception. They sat in the library with books spread out before them, trying to "study", but all they really wanted to do was talk. Nora told Bert everything, from what Regulus said about Remus down to the furtive look that Remus had given her and Sirius. 

"So," Bert started to say, "you think Remus suspects something going on between you and Sirius?"

"I think so." Nora said dejectedly.

"Well, does Sirius know that you like Remus?" he asked her.

"Oh, blast." Nora said, looking worried. "I really hope not. What if he tells Remus? That would be so embarrassing."

"Why didn't you just say anything then when Remus looked at you like that?" asked Bert.

"I don't know. It was just so weird. And I was totally caught off guard. And everyone was there." Nora said, trying to organize her jumbled thoughts.

"Hmm." Bert said, "So how is Michelle doing?"

"Not so good." Nora replied. "She isn't talking to anybody except Shelby. I think she's really embarrassed. She hasn't even come out of her bed today." Nora and Bert continued talking about the latest school gossip for the next couple of hours. It wasn't until later in the evening that Bert noticed that Nora kept looking at her watch.

"Do you have to go somewhere?" Bert asked her.

"Oh, no I don't." Nora said casually. "I was just supposed to meet Sirius soon to work on our assignment."

"You seem to be a little anxious about it." Bert said curiously.

"Oh, shut up, Bert." Nora said with a laugh. "I told him to just come here. I've got Prefect duty later on with Remus so I want to make sure we're done early."

"Ooh, _that's_ why." Bert said understandingly.

"Yeah, don't worry." said Nora. "I'm not going to drop Remus for Sirius."

"You're not gonna what?" Nora froze as she heard Sirius's voice right behind her. _Shit! What if he heard me?_

"What were you saying, Four-eyes? I thought I heard my name." Sirius came towards her and plunked himself on the seat next to her.

"Oh…uh…no I wasn't talking about you." Nora lied a little nervously. "I was just telling Bert that um…sometimes he acts really serious." Bert grimaced at the terrible lie, and Nora looked at Sirius, hoping he would buy it.

Sirius peered across at Bert and said, "Hmm. Yeah, she's right, Ernie. I think you are a bit too serious sometimes." Nora let out a breath of relief and looked at Bert who at that moment _did_ look rather…serious.

"Well, I better get going." Bert said to Nora with a sigh as he gathered his books. "I guess I'll see you tomorrow in class then." He got up and left the library, muttering something about "stupid" and "Ernie".

"Why do I get the feeling that he doesn't like me very much?" Sirius asked Nora with a grin.

Nora laughed and said, "No he doesn't mind you. He's just Bert. He's different."

"Yeah, he sure is." Sirius agreed with her. He looked around the library and said with a grimace, "I can't believe I'm in the library on a Sunday night. I dunno how you dragged me in here."

"Well, we can't stay for long anyways." Nora said looking at her watch. "I've got to leave in an hour."

"Where do you have to go?" Sirius asked her.

"I have Prefect duty tonight." She replied.

"With Remus?" he asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Yeah." Nora said, raising her eyebrow back at him.

"I see." Sirius said and then added in an almost resentful tone, "So, you seem pretty keen on making sure you're not late."

"Obviously." Nora said. "Why would I want to be late for Prefect duty?"

"Well, you don't make such an effort to be on time when you have to meet up with _me_." he replied.

"When have I ever been late?" Nora asked him indignantly.

"Aren't you always late?" he asked her, sounding a little annoyed.

"Uh, Sirius," Nora said looking at him like he was mental. "_You're_ the one who's always late."

Sirius opened his mouth like he was going to say something back to her but then thought for a moment and said, "Oh. Yeah, I think you're right." He grinned at her and then opened his books and said, "Okay so what're we doin'?" Nora took out her books and they both worked for almost forty-five minutes on their assignment.

When they were just about done, Nora took off her glasses and rubbed the bridge of her nose; a habit that was becoming hard to break. She put her glasses down on the table and leafed through her book. Sirius found himself getting bored of what he was reading so he moved his eyes away from his books and onto Nora. He noticed that her glasses were off, and just stared at her while she read. He tried not to look at her directly in the eyes, but was strangely mesmerized by them and his eyes kept shifting slowly from one to the other. In his mind, he was trying to figure out which one he liked best.

He didn't get a chance to decide because Nora looked up at him suddenly and asked, in a very casual tone, "So how is Remus doing, anyways? Is he still upset from yesterday?"

"About Michelle?" Sirius asked looking away from her eyes and feeling embarrassed for a reason he could not understand at that moment.

"Well, about everything." Nora said. "That and what your brother said about him."

"Oh, that." Sirius said looking up at her again. "No, he's okay, I guess."

"So what was Regulus talking about?" Nora inquired quietly, moving a little closer to Sirius. "Why do you think Snape would say something like that about Remus?"

Sirius looked at Nora and asked inquisitively, "Why are you so curious about Remus all of a sudden?"

"I'm not." Nora said defensively, although she could feel her cheeks getting a little warm.

"Right." Sirius said, still looking skeptically at her. "By the way, you're five minutes late for Prefect duty."

"What?" Nora exclaimed and looked at her watch. "Oh, crap! I better run."

"Yeah, run as fast as you can." Sirius muttered sarcastically to himself. "You don't want to keep _Remus_ waiting."

"What was that?" Nora asked as she quickly put her glasses on and gathered her things together.

"Nothing." he said abruptly and opened one of his books. Nora looked at him with a frown but then just shrugged her shoulders and left the library.

Sirius peeked from behind his book, watching her leave and he suddenly felt very annoyed. _What is wrong with me?_ He asked himself. _Why do I feel so damn irritated? And can somebody PLEASE tell me what the hell I'm still doing in this bloody library?_

* * *

A/N: Well, here's the next chapter...all edited out! Hope you guys like it! Send me a review to tell me what you thought. Thanks! 


	11. Chapter 11

Disclaimer: Anything relating to the Harry Potter stories belongs to J. K. Rowling. She can have my characters and ideas as well.

CHAPTER 11

Nora was in shock. She still couldn't believe what had happened. She had been staying at his bedside ever since Madam Pomfrey had allowed any visitors. Nora could hear Professor Dumbledore speaking softly to his parents outside of the hospital wing, trying to explain everything that he knew about what had happened to their son. Nora was still replaying everything that had happened the night before in her mind, trying to make sense of it all…

* * *

Nora had just left Sirius in the library and headed towards the Gryffindor common room where she was supposed to meet Remus for Prefect duty. He was standing outside of the portrait hole, leaning against the wall waiting for her. 

"Hey!" she called out to him. "Sorry I'm late. I was just in the library with—um, doing an assignment."

"Yeah, with Sirius, right?" he asked knowingly.

"Oh." Nora said, suddenly feeling stupid for trying to avoid mentioning Sirius. "Yeah. He was there too."

"So…did you guys get any work done?" Remus asked as they headed to their designated corridor for duty.

"Yep." Nora said.

"Really? That's surprising." said Remus.

"How?" Nora asked him.

"Sirius tends to get bored very easily." Remus replied with a smile.

"Oh, well yeah he does tend to stray off topic a bit, but I can usually make him come back around." Nora said with a smirk.

"I see." Remus nodded.

"I left him in the library." Nora said with a grin, "He didn't seem too happy about it. He hates working in the library. I guess we _could _work in the common room, but I just like to make him suffer a bit." Remus laughed as they made their way up the abandoned corridor.

"Doesn't seem like there's going to be any action up here tonight, does it?" Nora said. Since the egg incident yesterday, Nora had been dying of curiosity to know what it was that Snape had against Remus, especially considering the fact that he got along with everyone she knew. She tried to bring it up with Sirius, but didn't get any answers out of him. So, she decided to hint at the subject with Remus.

"So yesterday was a pretty hectic day, wasn't it?" she asked him casually.

"Yeah, don't even remind me." Remus said, shaking his head. "I still feel awful about it."

"I felt really bad for Sirius. He was really worried about our egg. And then that whole thing with his brother." Nora said, trying to lead the conversation on to what she wanted to know.

"Oh yeah, _that_ whole thing." Remus said remembering. "I was thinking more of what happened with Michelle."

"Oh, right." Nora said, feeling a little frustrated. _Is_ _he still thinking about that? Get over it! She's not worth it!_

"I didn't see her at all today. I have a feeling she might be avoiding me." Remus said.

"Well, she hasn't really gotten out of bed today." Nora told him.

"Really? Oh, damn. I feel terrible." Remus said guiltily.

"I'm sure she'll be okay." said Nora, trying to make him feel better.

"I was afraid something like this was going to happen." Remus explained, still sounding a little dejected. "I was really hoping she wouldn't say anything. I mean, I had a suspicion that she liked me…well, it was pretty obvious. But I swear I didn't lead her on or anything."

"Yeah, I'm sure you didn't." Nora said understandingly. "But you're just a nice guy. So any girl would probably get the wrong impression."

"Well, I don't know about _that_." Remus said and then mused. "Hmm. Maybe I should start acting more like Sirius and James."

"No!" Nora exclaimed quickly and Remus started to laugh. "Don't do that. One Sirius is more than enough, believe me." Nora went on to relate something that Sirius did to try and get out of his part of an assignment.

Remus, who was still laughing, looked up suddenly and said, "Oh, is that Sirius up there?"

"Where?" Nora asked, turning her head in the same direction as him.

"Oh, never mind. I think it's someone else." Remus said.

"Oh." Nora said quietly.

"Don't be too disappointed. I'm sure he'll be in the common room when we're done." Remus said with a grin.

"What?" Nora said, feeling agitated. "I'm not disappointed. I see him too often anyways!" _Stop thinking that anything is going on between us!_

"Right." Remus said, still smiling.

"No really, I—" Nora started to protest, but she couldn't complete what she wanted to say because Lily suddenly came running down the hall, her face paler than normal.

"Nora! Remus!" she called out. "Come, quickly! A student's been attacked!"

Feeling very alarmed, Nora and Remus set off with Lily and followed her across to the other side of the castle. Nora noticed that they were headed in the direction of where the Hufflepuff dorms were.

They stopped around a crowd of students congregated near the door of the common room and Lily urged them all to move out of the way. Nora and Remus walked right behind her and Nora saw James was already on the ground, crouched next to the fallen student. He got up as soon as he saw them and moved over a little to reveal who it was, and Nora gasped. Her breath was caught in her throat. She fell to the ground next to her friend and shook him.

"Bert!" she said, trying to wake him up. "Bert!" James held Nora's shoulders and she turned to him, her face white with fear, and said, "Oh my God. Is he—"

"Stand aside, please everyone." It was the headmaster. Several of the other professors were with him, and he bent down to Bert and said, "He is still breathing. We have to get him to the hospital wing." Professor McGonagall conjured up a stretcher and lifted Bert onto it.

"Did anyone see what happened here?" Dumbledore sternly asked the students standing around. Everyone's faces were blank and full of fear.

Nora was just standing in a daze, watching her best friend being led away. She couldn't move or even blink. It wasn't until she felt someone hold her hand that she remembered where she was.

"Nora." Lily said gently, pulling her hand. "Come, let's go sit somewhere. Do you want something to drink?"

"No." Nora shook her head still looking in the direction Bert had been taken away. James and Remus came and stood on the other side of her.

"You're in shock." James said, trying to reason with her. "You really need to come and sit down."

"I have to go with him." Nora said, unintentionally ignoring what James said.

"But I don't think they're going to let anyone go inside to see him until they know what happened." Remus said, looking worriedly at her.

"I don't care. I won't be able to stay here and wonder what's going on." she said, letting go of Lily's hand. "I'm going." She ran away from them, not turning back. She ran until she reached the outside of the hospital wing and slumped against the wall. She knew they weren't going to let her in just yet, so she sunk down to the ground and waited, hoping everything was all just a bad dream.

* * *

Sirius was playing a game of wizard's chess with Peter, still feeling a little grumpy from when he left the library. He was about to make a move when James, Remus, and Lily barged into the common room, all looking very tense. 

Sirius got up from his chair immediately. He could tell from their faces that something was wrong. He also noticed that Nora, who was supposed to be with Remus, wasn't there. "What happened?" he asked them, feeling really concerned.

"It's Nora's friend, Bert. He was attacked." Lily said.

"Ernie?" Sirius said, feeling slightly relieved that there was nothing wrong with Nora, but still concerned none the less for her friend. "How? What happened?"

"Nobody knows." James said. "Lily and I just happened to be near that area when the two Hufflepuff Prefects came running to us, saying that they just stepped out of their common rooms to start their rounds and they found him, just lying there unconscious. So I went to go see what happened while Lily went to get Nora and Remus."

"Where is she?" Sirius asked.

"She was really upset." Lily said, "She just ran to the hospital wing. I doubt they'll let her in. She's probably just waiting outside."

They all sat around in the common room anxiously, waiting for any news of what might have happened. When they got tired of waiting in silence, they all started to speculate on what exactly could've happened to Bert.

"I'll bet he was attacked by someone from Slytherin. He's a muggle-born. Prime target." Sirius said bitterly.

"Well I know they're not exactly the nicest group, but I doubt any student would intentionally try to hurt someone that badly." Lily said, trying to be more rational.

"I don't know." James said, disagreeing with Lily. "I could name a few people that wouldn't hesitate to hurt someone."

"Yeah. Like Snape." Sirius said abruptly.

"Sirius." Remus said sternly. "You shouldn't single people out like that without any proof."

"I don't need proof." Sirius said heatedly. "I know what that greasy _Snivellous_ is like."

"Okay guys." Lily said reprovingly. "Let's not argue about this. We can't say anything yet. Who knows? Maybe it was just an accident or something."

They hung around in the common room for a couple more hours, none of them able to sleep yet, and Nora still hadn't returned from the hospital wing.

"Maybe someone should go see if she's okay." Lily suggested.

"Why don't you go, Lily?" James asked her.

"Well, I was thinking maybe Sirius should go." Lily replied.

"Me?" Sirius asked, looking surprised.

"Yeah." said Lily. "We already tried telling her to come with us, but she didn't listen. Maybe you could try talking to her."

"Why would she listen to me?" Sirius looked confused.

"Because," Remus said, "After Bert, you're the one who spends the most time with her, so you probably know her better than any of us. And she's probably more comfortable around you."

"Well, wouldn't she feel more comfortable with a girl? Lily, I think you should go instead." he said, feeling uncomfortable.

"No." Lily said firmly. "I think she'd rather have you there. She never hangs around us girls anyways."

"Well, why doesn't Remus just go? He's better at making people feel comfortable." Sirius said and then added a little sullenly, "She'll probably be happier to see him instead of me."

"Don't be ridiculous." Remus said. "Trust me, she'd rather see you."

"I highly doubt that." Sirius said.

"Look it just makes sense." Remus tried to convince Sirius. "She already saw us, and we couldn't really do anything to help her out. You spend the most time out of all of us with her, and I know she's comfortable with you because she talked about you the whole time we were at rounds."

"I'm sure she was complaining about something." Sirius said dryly.

"Well…that's beside the point." Remus said, brushing him off. "But really, I think you should go."

"She's probably really upset." Sirius said, feeling anxious.

"Yes, exactly." James said, pulling Sirius up from his seat. "That's why you have to go."

"But what if she's crying or something? I hate seeing girls cry." Sirius complained while James pushed him towards the portrait hole. "I don't know what to do."

"Just go, mate." James said.

"Oh, wait." Sirius said, reaching into his pocket, "Can you baby-sit Yolk for me while I'm gone?" He handed James his egg and headed out.

"Great." Sirius muttered to himself as he made his way through the dark corridors. "What the hell am I supposed to say to her?"

* * *

"Hey, Four-eyes." Sirius said as he peeked his head into the door of the hospital room. He could see Nora sitting down in a chair next to Bert's bed, not moving her eyes away from his unconscious body. Sirius walked up towards the bed and looked at Bert. "How's Ernie doing?" 

Nora shrugged. "The same. Still unconscious."

He sat down next to her and asked. "Did they figure out what happened yet?"

"No." Nora said quietly. Her voice sounded very strained. "They just let me come and see him about fifteen minutes ago. They're going to transfer him to St. Mungo's soon. Dumbledore's with his parents right now."

"Well, I'm sure he'll get better treatment there. They'll be able to figure out what happened." Sirius said positively.

Nora just nodded her head. She couldn't talk; she could feel her throat start to tighten. She was in too much shock to cry before, and could now feel the tears starting to well up in her eyes. She could hear voices outside of the room and knew they were coming to take Bert away. The door to the room opened and Mr. and Mrs. Aubrey were ushered in with Professor Dumbledore. Bert's parents' faces were pale and his mother's eyes were red and puffy. Nora and Sirius stood up from their chairs and moved out of the way. Nora saw that Mrs. Aubrey had started to cry again. She quickly left the room, afraid her own eyes would start to water up.

Sirius followed her out, unsure of what to do. Nora kept walking ahead of him. He could see her constantly wiping her face. _Oh man. She's crying, isn't she. I told James that I hate it when girls cry. What do I do?_ He ran up to her and grabbed her arm.

"Hey, Four-eyes. Slow down a little." he said, still holding her. She kept her head down and Sirius gave her a handkerchief from his pocket. She took off her glasses and wiped her eyes. She was about to put her glasses back on when they slipped from her hand and fell to the ground. She looked down and saw that one of the lenses had cracked. She just stood there, staring pathetically down at her broken glasses. Sirius looked at Nora and then looked down at the glasses. _Oh dear. That can't be a good thing for her right now_.

He quickly bent down and picked them up. "I can fix these, don't worry." He took out his wand and she held out her hand for him to stop.

"No, don't bother." Nora said tiredly. "I don't want them anymore. Bert's always telling me not to wear them anyways." Nora could feel her eyes well up again. She took the glasses away from Sirius's hands, walked up to a garbage bin and threw them away.

* * *

A/N: Poor Bert! I just did of editing to this chapter...I would love to know what you thought of it! 


	12. Chapter 12

Disclaimer: Anything relating to the Harry Potter stories belongs to J. K. Rowling. She can have my characters and ideas as well.

CHAPTER 12

Nora didn't feel like leaving her bed, but she forced herself to get up. It was two days after Bert had been attacked and Nora had spent the whole time underneath her blanket. She couldn't really remember how she even got to her dorm. Her memory was a little hazy; she remembered Sirius coming to the hospital wing and walking out with him. She wasn't sure if he was with her when she reached the common room or not. Once she got to her dorm, she just collapsed on her bed and when she woke up it was already late into the afternoon. She hoped that everything that happened was just a nightmare, but seeing Lily confirmed that it wasn't. The realization that she had just lost her best friend and didn't know if or when she'd see him again hit her hard. She cried the rest of the day and night, unable to stop the tears. The next day, she was drained. She couldn't move out of her bed, so she just slept.

"Hey Nora, are you feeling better?" Lily asked groggily, sitting up in her bed as she watched Nora get up from her bed and head to the washroom.

Nora just shrugged and went to the washroom to take a hot shower. When she came out, Michelle and Shelby were also awake.

"Hey, you're finally out of bed." Shelby said to her cheerfully.

"Yeah." Nora said quietly while patting her hair dry with a towel. She put on her school robes and gathered her books together. She wanted to eat breakfast and leave the Great Hall before scores of other students came in.

She was just about to leave when Michelle suddenly asked her, "Where are your glasses?"

Nora looked blankly at Michelle for a moment and then said, "They broke." She forgot about her glasses; they seemed like such a trivial issue now and she felt stupid for worrying about her eyes for so long.

"Oh…so can you see properly?" Michelle inquired.

"Yeah, I can see fine." Nora replied shortly, beginning to feel irritated.

"Oh…okay." Michelle said in a puzzled manner. Nora could tell she was exchanging a look with Shelby and it irritated her even more. She quickly left her dorm room and headed down to the Great Hall, hoping that nobody she knew would be down there yet.

* * *

"I told you guys it was a bad idea for me to go talk to her. She just ended up walking away from me and now she hasn't even left her room in two days!" Sirius said to James as they were both making their way down to the Great Hall for breakfast. 

"I don't think it has anything to do with you, Sirius. Nora would've done the same thing if it was anybody else." James said.

"Well, I hope she comes out soon. We've got all this work to do for our assignment, too. Poor Yolk hasn't seen her in two days. We only have a few days left with him." Sirius said as he took out his egg baby from his pocket to check on it.

"Yeah, you know I think I'm going to miss Millie as well. I can't believe how easy it is to get attached to something like a stupid egg." James said with a smile. Just as they entered through the doors of the hall, Sirius recognized the back of Nora's curly dark brown hair as she was sitting on the edge of one of the tables.

Sirius nudged James and said quietly, "I think she's back."

"Let's go sit with her." James said. Sirius felt a little apprehensive at first, remembering what had happened in the library and then later in the hospital wing, but then quickly decided that he wasn't going to act differently around her. He had a feeling that she wasn't the type to appreciate too much sympathy, and he definitely didn't want to raise any suspicions if he started to act awkward around her. _Well, anyways, I know she's definitely not interested in **me** in any way._ He thought bitterly to himself._ Plus, it's not like I am either…I don't think she's my type. I dunno why I was feeling so annoyed before._

Nora was buttering a piece of toast, and she could feel her stomach start to grumble. She was about to take a bite when she saw James come and take a seat across from her.

"Hey, Nora." James said with a warm smile. "It's good to see you. How are you doing?"

Nora just gave him a reluctant smile and a small shrug. She was about to take a bite of her toast again when she heard a "Hey, Four-eyes." coming from her right. She turned her head and saw Sirius sit down next to her.

"Oh, wait." he said with a slight frown, remembering she threw away her glasses. "Well what am I supposed to call you now?"

"Oh, I _thought_ there was something different about you." James said with realization as he poured himself some porridge. "I didn't notice you're not wearing your glasses."

"Yeah, they broke." Nora said.

"Can't you fix them?" James asked her.

"I don't need them." Nora said, sounding a little sad.

"Oh." James said, looking confused. He looked across at Sirius, who was miming him not to ask about it.

"So, really now," Sirius started to say to her while piling his plate with muffins, "what am I supposed to call you?"

"How about Freak-eyes?" Nora said dryly.

"Nah, that doesn't suit you." Sirius said.

"Why would he want to call you that?" James said, looking confused again.

"Because." Nora said impassively, pouring herself some juice. "My eyes are a little freaky."

"What?" James asked, and Nora looked him straight in the eyes.

"Oh!" he exclaimed with a smile. "Hey! They're different colors!"

"Exactly." Nora said.

"Wow." he said. "That is so bloody cool. Sirius, have you seen her eyes? Look at them!"

Sirius couldn't help but grin and when Nora turned to him he squinted his eyes at her and said with a smirk, "Ah, they're not _that_ cool. Nothing special."

"Hey, is that Nora?" Remus's voice suddenly came from behind Nora. She instinctively raised her hand up to her face to where she normally pushed her glasses back, but then immediately scratched the top of her eyebrow to cover it up. She gave Sirius a swift glance, and saw that he was looking at her a little intently, like he knew what she was trying to do. Nora felt her face glow a little with warmth as Remus took a seat across from them, next to James.

"It's good to see you again." he said, looking genuinely happy to see her. "How are you doing? Did you hear anything about Bert yet?" Nora quickly looked at Sirius again and saw that he was eyeing Remus a little.

"Not yet." Nora said, feeling uncomfortable, avoiding Remus's eye. She could now feel Sirius's eyes on her. "I'm going to see Dumbledore today to find out anything."

"Well I hope they find out what happened soon." Remus said as he helped himself to some breakfast.

Nora nodded her head slowly in agreement, and then gave Sirius a hard nudge in his side with her elbow.

"Eh!" he said in surprise. "Why'd you do that?"

"Stop it." she muttered, not looking at him.

"Stop what?" he asked her.

"Looking at me like that." she said quietly but sternly facing him.

"I don't know what you're talking about." Sirius said not-so-innocently. Inside, he felt his irritation start to rise, but then quickly dismissed it. _What're you doing? It's just Four-eyes! Don't get all worked up over a girl… _He gave her a quick sly glance and said, "So Remus, did you notice that Four-eyes lost two of them?"

"Oh yeah I did, actually." Remus said with a grin.

Nora could feel her face get warm again. _What is Sirius's problem? Shit, I think he knows I like Remus. Oh no. What if he tells him? I better get out of here before he embarrasses me even more. _She reached for her books and got up to leave.

"Why are you leaving so early?" Remus asked her. She looked down at Remus for a second and then averted her eyes to Sirius. _I can't look at Remus. Sirius keeps watching everything that I do. _

"I wanted to go talk to Dumbledore before class started." Nora said, still looking in Sirius's direction.

"Oh, hang on." Sirius said getting up from his seat. He pulled out Yolk from his pocket. "It's your turn to look after the little guy."

"Oh, right." Nora said taking the egg from Sirius. "Sorry, I forgot about him."

"That's okay. I took good care of him while you were gone. At least one of us is a responsible parent." he said as his trademark cocky grin resurfaced after so many days.

Nora gave him a little scowl and then looked down at Yolk sadly. "We have to give him back this Friday." She put Yolk gently in her pocket and sighed. "Well, I'll see you later."

* * *

Nora felt like the corridor would never end as she walked from Professor Dumbledore's office to her first class of the day. She had just been there to inquire about Bert. Unfortunately, there wasn't anything new that the headmaster could report to Nora. She left his office feeling incredibly disheartened, and lonely. Nora wasn't used to going to classes alone. She missed Bert. _Who am I going to sit with in class now? _She thought to herself sadly as she finally reached the classroom and walked in. _And who am I going to eat, study and just hang out with?_ She looked around the room, seeing if there was an empty seat near someone she wouldn't mind sitting with. She spotted Shelby and Michelle sitting close to the front, but didn't feel like sitting with them, so she sat in the back of the classroom by herself. She opted to sit quietly in the back of most her classes that day. She didn't particularly feel like conversing with anyone anyways. It wasn't until she went into her Muggle Studies class that she saw Sirius and James sitting together on one side of the classroom that she didn't feel like sitting alone. 

"Hey, is anyone sitting here?" Nora asked Sirius, whose books were on the empty seat next to him.

Sirius, who looked surprised for a moment, moved his books and said cheerfully, "I was saving it just for you, Four-eyes." Nora couldn't help but smile at him as she sat down.

"So Nora, tell me." James said to her. "You're a girl…"

"Yes I am…" Nora affirmed, looking at James a little confusedly.

"What is so wrong with me?" he asked her, looking bewildered.

"What do you mean?" she asked, still puzzled.

"Why won't Lily go out with me? You're a girl, so tell me why you wouldn't want to go out with me." said James.

"Did you ask her out?" Nora asked with surprise.

"Well…not recently." James said, looking sheepish.

"Oh." Nora said. "So how do you know she won't go out with you then?"

"Thank you, Four-eyes!" Sirius said exasperatedly and then turned to James. "See, this is what I've been trying to tell you."

"But I can't ask her." James said resolutely and then added anxiously, "I won't be able to take the rejection."

"Do you want me to talk to her?" Nora asked him.

"What do you mean? Like ask her if she'd go out with me?" James questioned her.

"Well I don't have to be so explicit. I can just hint at something and see what she says." Nora suggested. James thought it was a great idea and couldn't wait for class to end so that they could head to dinner where Nora would be able to talk to Lily.

When class was almost over James said to Nora, "Oh, by the way, don't forget we have Quidditch practice every day this week."

"Yeah I didn't forget." said Nora as she put her books away. "But why do we need to practice every day? Hufflepuff shouldn't be hard to beat. We have more than a week, too."

"Well, it's the last game before the holidays." explained James. "I thought it would be good to get the extra playing time."

"Besides," Sirius added, "it'll keep you busy. Keep your mind off of things."

"Oh yeah and also, we have Prefect duty every night." James reminded her.

"Damn, that too?" Nora asked wearily as they walked out of the classroom door.

"Yeah, Dumbledore wants everyone patrolling for extra security. Nobody is allowed outside of their dorms after hours." said James.

"Oh, and one more little thing," Sirius said with a grin, "we have to finish our assignment by this Friday."

"Gees. Looks like I won't be able to keep my mind on _anything_ now." Nora said dryly.

She was about to turn in the opposite direction of the Great Hall when Sirius said, "Hey, where are you going, Four-eyes? Don't you want to eat dinner?"

"Not really. I'm not hungry." Nora replied.

"But you didn't come to lunch either." James said with a frown.

"Oh, yeah, but I really don't feel like—" Nora was protesting when Sirius yanked her arm and started dragging her towards the hall.

"Don't be ridiculous. Just come with us." he said then added quietly to her, "I'm sure there's _somebody_ there that can make you feel better."

"Like who?" Nora asked him.

"You tell me." Sirius said with a raised eyebrow.

"I don't know what you're talking about."

"Ooh, look." Sirius gave Nora a slight nudge and said softly so only she could hear. "_Remus_ is already at the table. Why don't you go sit next to him?"

Nora glowered at him as they made their way to the table and said defiantly, "No. I think I want to sit with _you_ instead."

* * *

Nora felt liberated while hovering on her broomstick during Quidditch practice a few nights later. It was so much easier for her to see while flying around and dodging Bludgers now that she wasn't wearing her glasses. She looked down at the bleachers to where Bert used to sit and watch them play. Everything she did somehow reminded her of him. She was still gazing down at the bleachers when she saw Remus walking towards it and sit down. He looked up, saw her, and waved. 

She was about to wave back when a Bludger zoomed past her face, making her almost fall off her broom.

"Oi! Four-eyes, pay attention to the game!" Sirius called out to her as he flew next to her. He squinted his eyes at her and, "Are you _sure_ you didn't need those glasses?"

"Ha. Very funny, Black." Nora said, glowering at him.

"You know, if you can't concentrate with certain people watching us practice, I'll just tell them to leave." Sirius said with a smirk.

"The only reason I can't concentrate," Nora said through gritted teeth, "is because you keep bothering me!"

"Hey, you two!" James's voice bellowed so that everyone on the pitch could hear him, "Flirt with each other on your own time! Sirius, get back in your position!"

Nora glared at Sirius, too angry to say anything and he just winked at her with a cheeky grin and flew to the other side of the pitch. Nora stole a look down to the bleachers and could see that Remus was trying really hard to stop laughing. _I'm going to kill Sirius one of these days._

* * *

"You seem tired." Remus said to Nora as they met outside the common room to head to their Prefect duty rounds later that night. 

"I'm exhausted." Nora admitted. "That practice was brutal."

"Yeah, I got tired just watching you guys." Remus said with a sympathetic smile.

"And Sirius didn't help much either." Nora added with annoyance. "He kept aiming those damn Bludgers at me."

"I noticed." Remus said. "He likes to bug you, doesn't he?"

Nora shrugged indifferently. "I think it's just become a habit with him now." she said and then added tiredly, "Oh, blast. I still have to stay up after this to finish our assignment for tomorrow."

They talked continuously the rest of their rounds and Nora had to constantly check herself from letting her mind wander. She kept noticing how nice Remus's eyes were and wondered what it would be like to kiss him. _Ah, I wish I could tell you how I feel, but I'm too much of a chicken…_

When they were finally finished and heading through the portrait hole to the common room, Nora was actually sad to be done. She looked across the room and saw that Sirius was already sitting on the couch with his books, waiting for her.

"Finally! I was wondering when you'd get back." Sirius said, eyeing them charily. "How was the long walk through the dark deserted corridors?"

"Dark." Nora said even-tonally, glaring at him. "And deserted."

"Yep." Remus said smiling tiredly. "Well, I'm drained, guys. I'll see you tomorrow." He started to walk up the stairs and then turned his head for a second and said, "You two kids don't stay up too late now, okay?" He winked at Nora and headed up.

Nora could feel her face get warm again and she gave Sirius a scowl as she plopped herself down on the couch next to him. "This is getting ridiculous. You both are going to drive me nuts."

"Ah," Sirius said, stretching back in the couch, grinning as usual, "it's not so bad, is it?"

"Yes, it is." Nora said grumpily, shoving his arm away from the back of her head. "Let's just finish this stupid thing."

"So that's it then." Sirius said when they finally finished their assignment about an hour later. "We're done."

"Yey." Nora said unenthusiastically. "Now maybe I'll be able to get some sleep again."

"Yeah." Sirius said. "You won't have to stay up so late with me working anymore."

"Thank goodness." Nora said. "You must be relieved."

Sirius shrugged. "I guess so." But Nora noticed that he looked a little depressed.

"What's the matter?" she asked him.

"Oh, nothing." he said getting up. "We've gotta give Yolkie back tomorrow too."

"Oh, right." Nora said as they walked up to the staircase together.

"Stupid egg." Sirius muttered and then said to Nora. "Well, I'll see you tomorrow."

"Okay." Nora said. "Goodnight." As she headed up to her dorm, she felt a wave of sadness drape over her, and she couldn't understand why.

* * *

A/N: Hmm...didn't need to change much in this one...just a couple of grammatical errors. Anyhoo, tell me what you thought of it! Next chapter should be up soon! 


	13. Chapter 13

Disclaimer: Anything relating to the Harry Potter stories belongs to J. K. Rowling. She can have my characters and ideas as well.

CHAPTER 13

It was the last night before the Holidays, and Nora found herself doing her last Prefect round with Remus before most students were to go home the next morning.

"You seem a little down today." Remus said as he and Nora made their way down to their designated watch area.

"Yeah, I dunno why." Nora sighed. "Just feel a little depressed for some reason."

"I thought you'd still be gloating from yesterday's game." said Remus, referring to the Quidditch match against Hufflepuff that they had easily won.

"Well, I was happy yesterday, but I don't know why, today I just feel…blah." Nora said sullenly as they walked down a dark hallway.

"You thinking about your friend maybe?" Remus suggested.

"Yeah, maybe. It just feels like something is missing, you know?" Nora explained. "I'm going to visit him over the break."

"Oh, that's good. That'll probably make you feel better." Remus said encouragingly.

"I guess so." said Nora, but she didn't sound very convinced. The truth was that she didn't really know why she was feeling so down. It was more than just missing Bert. Ever since she had to give Yolk back to their Professor for their evaluations, she was feeling down. _Why am I so depressed over a silly egg?_

"So what are you doing over the break?" Nora asked, trying to change the subject; thinking about Yolk was not going to help her feel better.

"I'm going home." Remus answered. "I'll probably meet up with Sirius and James sometime over the break as well."

"Oh, yeah. Sirius will be at James's place." Nora said and then added, "You know, I live really close to James. Maybe I should invite Lily over one day and then _accidentally_ bump into him."

"I'm sure he'd appreciate that." Remus said with a wry smile.

"You know, I didn't even get a chance to talk to Lily yet." said Nora. "I promised James I'd find out if she'd consider going out with him or something."

"Oh." Remus looked surprised for a moment and then asked Nora intently, "Do you think she would?"

"I don't see why not." Nora said confidently.

"Yeah, that's what I thought." Remus sighed. As they finished their rounds, Nora noticed that Remus became a little more quiet than usual and thought that maybe now _he_ looked a little depressed instead of her.

* * *

"Oi, Nora!" James waved to her from the platform as she got off the train at Kings Cross Station and walked towards him, Sirius and Remus. 

"How'd you guys get off the train so fast?" Nora asked breathlessly as she dragged her trunk behind her.

"So did you talk to her? Where is she?" James asked her anxiously looking around the station, ignoring her question.

"Oh, right…Lily's still inside talking to someone, but okay, see, the thing is…" Nora started to say with a hint of regret, "I didn't _really_ get a chance to talk about _that_ in particular." James's once hopeful face now looked utterly depressed.

"It wasn't my fault!" Nora defended herself quickly as she felt guilt involuntarily rise in her. "I was about to ask her when these girls just came into our compartment. So I didn't get a chance…"

"Good one, Four-eyes." Sirius said, shaking his head.

"You be quiet." Nora said to Sirius with a frown and then turned back to James. "Look, I'll try my best to see if I can somehow tell her over the break, but I think she's going away somewhere. But then _for sure_, I'll find out after the break."

"Hmm." James looked at Nora skeptically. "Fine, then, I'll just have to wait. I guess it's better anyways. My holiday won't be ruined now in case she rejected me."

"Exactly!" Nora said with an encouraging smile. Most of the students were now off the train and heading to the meeting area. "Well, I guess I'll be seeing you guys after the break then."

"Yeah, have a good holiday." James said as he came towards her and gave her a light hug.

"You too." Nora replied and she suddenly felt really awkward. _Shit, why did James hug me? Now I don't know if I am supposed to hug Remus or not…_ Nora didn't have enough time to over-think the situation because before she knew it, Remus came up to her with a warm smile and pulled her into a light hug as well. It was just as friendly as James's, but Nora could feel her heart hammering in her chest as she breathed him in and relished the moment.

"Take care of yourself." Remus said as he let go of her. "And say hi to Bert for me when you see him."

"Okay, sure." Nora said, her cheeks glowing a little. She finally turned to Sirius who was eyeing her suspiciously again. She knew what he was thinking, and gave him a fake scowl.

"Well," he said coolly, pulling out his hand for her to shake, "I guess I'll be seeing you later then."

"What?" Nora said taking his hand but feeling a offended, "We were married the whole semester, and all you're gonna do is shake my hand?" Of the three boys, she actually felt much closer to Sirius and would've gladly given him a hug good-bye. She was a little taken aback when he didn't hug her himself, as she would have expected from him.

Sirius noticed her disappointment so he quickly pulled her into a hug. It wasn't the same kind of hug that Remus and James had given her; it was such a tight hug that Nora could feel his heart beat…and it was a little fast.

"There you go." he said as he let go of her, and she found herself feeling oddly flustered. "Happy now?" he asked with a smile that Nora could tell wasn't genuine. Nora didn't say anything else to him; she felt too weird. She was relieved when the boys went on their way and she spotted her father waving at her from afar so she could finally leave to go home.

* * *

It was about a week into the holidays when Remus came to visit James and Sirius at the Potter's. The three of them had just stepped out of the house and were walking outside, on their way to Diagon Alley. 

"Hey is that Nora over there?" James asked, gazing up ahead.

"Where?" Sirius peered over in front of them, trying to see her. He had been trying not to think about her ever since they left the train station, but was failing miserably. He was worried about how he had behaved that day after he hugged her and was afraid she would suspect something wasn't quite right.

"Yeah, that's her." Remus confirmed as they kept walking. "Looks like she's with someone."

"Whoa." Sirius said as Nora and her companion came into full view. "Whoever she's with is really hot." She was about Nora's height and weight, but she had long, straight black hair and big golden colored eyes.

"Maybe it's her sister." Remus suggested.

"I don't think she has a sister." James said. "Must be a friend."

"Oh, look!" Nora said quietly to her companion as the boys came into her view. "Those are the guys from school I was telling you about." She saw James, Remus and Sirius walk up to them. Nora noticed that they all looked very trendy, not being in their usual school robes. She also noticed that Remus was looking a little pale again and she felt a strange flutter go through her, like she was nervous, but she couldn't pin point the exact reason why.

"Hey Nora!" James called out to her when they were directly across each other. "What're you doing out here?"

"We were just taking a walk." Nora said with a smile like she was genuinely glad to see them. "How're things?"

"Hi, I'm Sirius." Sirius suddenly stuck his hand out to the beautiful mystery woman with what Nora was sure he thought was an extremely charming smile. "Nice to meet you."

"Oh, hello Sirius." she said smiling and taking his hand. She had a slight Mediterranean accent. "I'm Layla. It's nice to meet you too."

"Layla." he repeated. "That's a very beautiful name."

"Thank you." She smiled at him, clearly flattered and then turned to Nora and said, "Is this the same Sirius you were telling me about?"

"Oh, she told you about me?" Sirius asked, looking at Nora with a smirk.

"Yes." Layla nodded her head. "She said that you always try to hit her when you play Quidditch."

"Oh." Sirius said disappointingly and this time it was Nora's chance to smirk at him.

"But she didn't tell me you were so handsome and charming. You boys are _all_ so handsome!" Layla gushed and Nora cleared her throat.

"Yeah." Nora said a little sarcastically and then introduced the other guys. "This is James. And Remus."

"Oh!" Layla laid her hand on her chest and continued gushing. "I wish the boys were so handsome when I was in school!"

"You mean you're out of school?" James asked her.

Layla laughed out loud and said with a smile, "Yes, it's been a while."

"Yeah, try twenty years." Nora said, rolling her eyes. "Guys, this is my _mother_." The boys stood there for a moment, dumbstruck with their mouths slightly open.

Much to Nora's happiness, Remus was the first one to come out of the revelation and said very politely, "It's nice to meet you Mrs. Sammy."

Nora's heart swelled with pride as she looked at her mother for her approval of the well-mannered boy, until Sirius, in his charming voice said, "Are you sure you're Nora's mother? You look more like her sister."

"Oh!" Mrs. Sammy's attention was diverted from Remus back to Sirius and Nora didn't like it.

"Sirius, don't compliment my mother so much." she said with a slight frown. "She gets too giddy."

"La!" Nora's mother playfully hit her daughter on the arm.

Sirius turned to Nora and said with pity, "I can see that you must've taken completely after your father. That's too bad."

Nora scowled at him and said to the others, "So where are you guys headed?"

"We were just going to Diagon Alley." Remus answered.

"Oh cool." Nora said and then remembered to ask, "Hey did you guys watch the game last night?"

"Yeah it was brilliant!" James said excitedly. "The Arrows got completely mashed."

"You were rooting for the Wasps?" Nora asked him.

"Yeah of course, they are the top of the division." James said without hesitation.

"Frontrunners." Nora said disapprovingly, shaking her head.

"Well don't tell me _you_ were going for the Arrows." Sirius said defensively.

"Of course I was." Nora said.

"But they stink!" Sirius exclaimed.

"I know," Nora said, "but I always go for the underdog. I can't help it."

"Yes, Norie this is right." Her mother said to her. Sirius caught her mother's nickname for her and smiled to himself. _Hmm. Norie. That's kinda cute…_

She turned to the boys and said, "Nora always goes for the team that is less popular. I think she does this with more than sports though. She has too much pity and empathy."

"What?" Nora said incredulously. "That's not true."

"Oh yes it is." Layla said discrediting Nora. "I remember when you were little and you wanted a cat. We took you to the store and there were so many very beautiful cats all playing around with each other. You saw the one that was sitting alone in the back of the cage, and you took him."

"Well I felt sorry for him. He didn't have any friends." Nora explained with a frown.

"He was a very ugly cat." Nora's mother said, shaking her head with a smile.

_Hmm_. Sirius thought to himself. _Is that why she's friends with Ernie?_

"So have you visited Bert yet?" Remus asked Nora.

"I'm going day after tomorrow. Are you guys going to be busy? You wanna meet me there or something?" Nora said, eyeing them hopefully. The boys looked at each other a little uncomfortably.

"Er…the day after tomorrow…" James stood there contemplating.

"Why don't you go the day after that?" Sirius suggested.

"I can't. It's the only day I have free." Nora said.

"I'm not sure if I'll be able to make it." Remus said a little awkwardly.

"I can try," James said doubtfully, "but it might be hard for me."

"Oh." Nora sounded disappointed. She really didn't feel like going to St. Mungo's by herself, and she was _really_ hoping that Remus would be able to go with her.

Sirius caught the disappointment in her voice and quickly said, "Don't worry, Four-eyes, I'll go with you."

Nora eyed Sirius skeptically and said, "No, it's okay. You don't have to come if you're busy." _Hmm. Is he just trying to look like a nice guy in front of my mother?_

"No, I'm not busy. I'll come. I wanna see Ernie too anyways." Sirius said with a grin.

Nora gave him a half-smile and said, "Okay if you _really_ want to." _Well, I guess it's better than going alone. I really wish I could've gone with Remus though_. They decided to meet in the same spot on that day and then the boys headed down towards Diagon Alley, leaving Nora and her mother alone again.

"So those were the boys, eh?" Mrs. Sammy said with a smile.

"Yep." Nora replied.

"Remus seems like a very nice and polite boy." she said.

"He is." Nora agreed with her.

"They are all very handsome. Especially Sirius. Ooh! So charming too!" Mrs. Sammy gushed again.

"Yeah, a little _too_ charming." Nora said shaking her head. "I can't believe he was flirting with my mother."

"I'm sure most of the girls in the school like Sirius and James, right?" she asked her.

"Yep. Too many." Nora answered and then added, "Well, I know some girls who like Remus, too."

"Yes, but not as much as the other two. This is why you like Remus more." she said to Nora knowingly.

"What? No it isn't!" Nora said indignantly.

"But you know," Mrs. Sammy said thoughtfully, ignoring her daughter's protests, "I think this Sirius boy likes you more."

"What are you talking about?" Nora said with a grimace, but feeling a little surprised.

"I can tell by the way he was looking and talking to you. Remus I think…his mind is somewhere else." she said slowly.

"What are you a Seer or something now?" Nora asked, feeling irritated. Nora knew that her mother was very observant and that unfortunately for Nora, was usually right about people.

"No, no. I'm just saying what I observe." Mrs. Sammy said casually and then added with a smile, "But I am not going to say anything else about Sirius. It will just make you like Remus _more_."

* * *

A/N: Alright...I just added a couple of things to this chapter...tell me what you thought! 


	14. Chapter 14

Disclaimer: Anything relating to the Harry Potter stories belongs to J. K. Rowling. She can have my characters and ideas as well.

CHAPTER 14

It was cold the morning that Nora was supposed to visit Bert at St. Mungo's Hospital. As she trudged along the icy road, stuffing her cold hands in her pockets, Nora secretly hoped that maybe Remus was somehow able to make it after all and come to the hospital with her as well. Nora felt a little disappointed when she could see Sirius in the distance as she made her way to their meeting spot. His dark silhouette contrasted starkly with the white, snow-covered field behind him. He was leaning lazily against a crooked fence and Nora wondered if he had been waiting for her for a long time. She looked at her watch just to make sure she wasn't late.

"How long have you been out here?" Nora said to Sirius as she walked up to him, her dark curly locks blowing in the wind and her cheeks pink from the cold.

"Not too long." Sirius replied. But that was a lie. Sirius had actually been outside for more than an hour. He, James, and Remus had been up the whole night, and Sirius decided not to sleep at all that day. He wouldn't be able to even if he tried; he was too anxious about meeting Nora that morning.

"So what's up, _Norie?_" Sirius said to Nora with a grin as they started to walk down the road together.

"Hey!" she exclaimed with playful smack on his arm. "Nobody calls me that but my mother, okay?"

Sirius laughed and said, "How is your mother doing, anyways? She couldn't come with you today?"

"Well, she's little busy…with my _dad_." Nora said sternly, but still smiling. "But she's totally in love with you."

"Oh yeah?" Sirius asked with interest as they made their way to St. Mungo's.

"Yeah, she kept going on and on about how handsome and charming you were." Nora said rolling her eyes.

"Well, at least _somebody_ thinks so." he said as they started to make their way to the hospital.

"What do you mean, Sirius?" Nora asked him looking at him like he was stupid. "Who _doesn't_ think you are?"

"I dunno." he shrugged. "You?"

"Oh please." Nora said rolling her eyes. "Of course I think you are. Well, I dunno about the _charming_ part…"

"You do?" he asked, genuinely surprised.

"Well yeah." Nora said matter-of-factly. "But I'm not going to come up to you and say 'Ooh, Sirius, you are soooooooo handsome.'. You already have a big enough head."

"I see." Sirius said with a smile he couldn't suppress. They continued to talk amicably the rest of the way about what they had been doing during their holidays. Nora was starting to feel glad that Sirius came with her; she would've been too self-conscious to enjoy herself if Remus was there instead.

They had finally reached the hospital and were at the reception desk, when they were asked about which patient they were there to see.

"Last name?" The receptionist asked.

"Ernie." Sirius said confidently, and without any hesitation.

"Uh…Bert's last name is _Aubrey_." Nora said with a puzzled look on her face.

"Aubrey?" Sirius asked, looking very confused. "Then why the hell have I been calling him 'Ernie' this whole time?" Sirius asked her. Nora had a completely blank look on her face and turned back to the receptionist. They found out Bert was on the fourth floor in the Spell Damage ward and made their way to his room.

Nora and Sirius walked through his door and made their way to Bert, who was lying down peacefully in a bed. He looked exactly like he had when she last saw him in the hospital wing at Hogwarts. Sirius and Nora stood next to him, just staring at him with pity.

"He looks the same, doesn't he?" Sirius said quietly.

"Yeah." Nora replied, gazing at Bert's face. It looked like he was just sleeping. She wished she could just shake him to wake him up. Sirius looked at Nora and could tell what she was thinking.

"Listen," Sirius said in soft voice, "I'm just going to go outside for a bit, I'll leave you here with him. I'll be back soon."

"Okay, sure." Nora said as he left the room. She sat down in a chair that she pulled up to his bed.

"So." she said to the sleeping boy. "I don't know if you can hear me or not, but I'm going to talk to you anyways just 'cause I miss it. And I'm going to talk as much as I want without you telling me to shut up." She smiled at him sadly and then breathed out.

"So school's not so bad I guess. Well the first couple of days were, but these guys have all been really nice to me. Remus of course, James, Lily…and Sirius. Yes, believe it or not, Sirius too. Even though he does bug me half the time…but I know he's just kidding around so I don't really mind." Nora smiled at herself just remembering some of the antics Sirius had tried to pull during the semester.

"Oh some good news for you." Nora continued talking to Bert. "Lily is still single. But I think that's going to change really quickly. Sorry, mate. I'm pretty sure she's warming up to James. I think they'd be better for each other anyways. Nothing's changed with me and Remus. Surprise, surprise. He still thinks I like Sirius and I'm pretty sure Sirius knows that I like Remus, but I don't think he'd say anything so I'm not worried about it. My mother has some crazy notion that Sirius likes me or something. She said that Remus's mind was somewhere else…whatever that means. Anyways, I know he doesn't…or at least I _hope_ he doesn't. That would be really awkward…" She paused for a moment.

"Hmm…where is Sirius anyways? He said he'd be back soon. I should go out and find him, it's getting late." Nora stayed with Bert for another minute, said good-bye and then left Bert's room. She walked down the ward's corridors, gazing around to see if she could see Sirius anywhere. When she walked through the whole ward, she decided to go back down to the first floor. When she reached it, she realized she was in the Creature-Induced Injuries ward and was supposed to go down one more floor to the ground level. She walked down the hall a bit and looked down and saw that her shoelace was undone so she bent down to tie it. Two Healers were near her and she could hear their conversation.

"Looks like we got another one, eh?" A short, stocky Healer said as a patient was ushered into the room he was standing next to.

"Yeah. He looks a little better than the last, though." said a wheezy, older looking witch. "That was a nasty bite. I was afraid he wasn't going to make it."

"Yeah he got lucky, that one." said the stocky one.

"Well, I don't know how lucky he really is. I mean, life isn't going to be easy for him anymore." the wheezy one said, shaking her head in pity.

"I know what you mean." the stocky Healer agreed with her. "He's lucky he's out of school. Can you imagine having to go to school? Getting ill every month with the transformations? How can you hide something like that?" Nora finished tying her shoelace and stood up. The two Healers were standing by the same door, still talking to each other about the patients inside the room.

"Well, the full moon was last night so he won't have to worry for another month." Nora heard the stocky one say as she walked past him. _Full moon?_ She thought to herself. _Damn, they're talking about lycanthropy. Poor guys._

"He still looks very pale and peaky." Those words suddenly struck a chord with Nora. _Pale and peaky? That sounds oddly familiar…_ She walked a little further down the hall until she heard a voice that sounded distinctively like Sirius's. She looked to into the room on her right and saw his back. She walked into the room and saw him talking to someone.

"Sirius, I've been looking for you everywhere I—" Nora stopped talking suddenly when she saw that Sirius had turned around suddenly and that Remus was lying in the bed he was standing in front of. "Remus! What are you doing here? Are you okay?"

"Oh." Remus said exchanging an uncomfortable look with Sirius. "Yeah, I'm fine."

"Then why are you in here?" Nora asked him with concern. "Did you get bit by something?"

"Er…no..." Remus said, choosing his words carefully, "well, not _recently._" Nora looked at Remus with a frown of complete confusion and then looked at Sirius, who was nervously scratching the top of his head, and avoiding her eye. He sat down into a nearby chair, not looking in anyone's direction.

Nora was completely dumbfounded but then slowly, it all became very clear to her. _Not bitten **recently**_..._pale and peaky…sick once a month…oh, no. Don't tell me **Remus** is a werewolf!_

"Oh!" She gave a little gasp of shock with the revelation, but then suddenly became very flustered and embarrassed for barging in on is privacy. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to just come in here and start asking...I'll just um…go out and leave you guys alone…"

"No, it's okay, Nora." Remus said as she was about to leave the room. "Don't go."

"You probably need to rest or something…I'll wait outside." Nora said, her cheeks feeling like they were on fire. _Oh my God! I've never been so embarrassed before in my life! _

"Don't be silly." Remus said with his characteristic warm smile. "It's okay. Just sit down. I'm bored anyways." Nora reluctantly sat down next to Sirius, still feeling embarrassed and now very nervous.

"So how long do you have to stay here?" Nora asked, trying to break the uncomfortable silence resonating in the room.

"Just a few more hours and then I'll go home." Remus replied. Nora looked at Sirius from the corner of her eye. He was leaning back in his chair, being oddly quiet. She wished he'd say something to lighten the atmosphere, but he didn't.

"So at school you're normally in the hospital wing at this time?" she asked him.

"Yeah." Remus replied.

The room became quiet again so Nora asked, "You've been doing that since first year?"

"Yep." Remus nodded his head.

"So I guess all the professors and stuff know, right?"

Remus nodded his head again.

"And these guys?" she asked nodding to Sirius.

"Yeah they figured it out pretty quickly." Remus said with a smile.

They sat around in silence for a few more moments until Sirius looked at the time and said what Nora was dying to hear, "It's getting late. We should probably get going."

As soon as Nora and Sirius were out of his room and into the hallway, out of Remus's earshot, Nora whacked Sirius hard on his upper arm and exclaimed, "You jackass!"

"Ow!" Sirius yelled rubbing his arm and looking at Nora like she was mad.

"Why didn't you tell me where you were going?" she asked him angrily.

"I didn't—" Sirius was about to say something when Nora interrupted him.

"And why didn't you come back to Bert's room where I was?" she asked him again.

"But I—" Sirius was going to say something again but Nora cut him off, again.

"Ugh, I'm so embarrassed!" Nora said burying her face in her hands. "I can't believe I just barged in like that. He probably thinks I'm like the nosiest rudest person in the whole world!"

"No he doesn't." Sirius said, looking at her perplexedly.

"I feel terrible. He probably didn't want anyone else to know." Nora said, still feeling embarrassed about what happened. "You should have told me you were going to see someone and that you'd take a while. I would've just waited in Bert's room for you!"

"But I wasn't planning on taking that long." Sirius said. "I was just about to leave him when you came in."

"Great timing." Nora said sarcastically. She kept replaying what had just happened in her mind as they made their way out of the hospital. The air outside was crisp, but cold. Nora could feel her cheeks start to cool off already.

A few minutes later, as they walked down a busy downtown street Nora said to Sirius, "Can you tell Remus when you see him next time not to worry about me telling anyone about his...problem?"

"He knows you won't. Don't worry." Sirius said, feeling a little goaded. He knew that she was upset about Remus, but the extent of her concern was starting to make the jealousy he was trying to suppress, bubble out of him.

Nora could sense that Sirius wasn't very happy and she started to feel bad about yelling at him. She cleared her throat and said, "Sorry. I didn't mean to snap at you before. I was just really embarrassed. I hope I didn't hit you too hard."

Sirius mumbled an "it's okay" and they traveled in silence most of the way home. They were soon approaching their neighborhood when all of a sudden Sirius felt something jump on his leg. He stopped abruptly and looked down.

"What the hell is that?" he said, trying to shake a furry grey animal off of his leg.

"Oh!" Nora exclaimed with surprise. "Bogey!"

"What's a bogey?" Sirius asked looking at his leg with worry.

"It's my cat!" she said bending down to the ground and prying it off of Sirius's leg. "How'd you get out here?"

"Damn, your mother was right." Sirius said looking at the creature with aversion as Nora stood back up with it in her arms. "That's one hell of an ugly cat."

"Hey!" Nora said protectively, stroking the cat's grey head.

"He's ugly _and_ you named him _Bogey_? I'd have committed suicide a long time ago if I were him." Sirius said shaking his head.

"What's wrong with _Bogey_?" Nora asked, looking offended.

Sirius raised an eyebrow at her and said, "And you thought _Yolk_ was a stupid name."

Nora shrugged with her cat purring comfortably in her arms. "I got used to Yolkie."

They walked in silence for a minute and then Nora sighed, "Man, I can't stop thinking about him. Poor Remus. I feel so bad for him. He's such a nice guy too. Why do bad things always happen to good people?"

"Well he's probably a good person _because_ of what happened." Sirius said. _She's not going to get over him, is she?_

"You're right." Nora said sadly as she stroked Bogey's fur.

_Well, that's it_. Sirius thought to himself dismally_. If her mother's pity theory about her is right, then she's almost completely in love with Remus now. I might as well just not even think about her in any other way than a friend from now on…_

"So I guess I'll see you in school next week then." Nora said as they reached their turning points.

"Yeah." Sirius said feeling thoroughly depressed.

"Thanks a lot for coming with me today. I really appreciate it." Nora said, really meaning it.

"It wasn't a big deal." Sirius said crossing his arms over his chest, starting to feel a little cold.

"No but still…" Nora said and pressed her hand on his arm warmly. "I was really glad you came."

Sirius saw how earnestly Nora was looking at him and couldn't think of a time where she looked prettier than she did just then. _Damn it!_ He cursed to himself. _Why do I always find myself more attracted to people I know I can't have? Great. Just look at her. Her crazy hair, her crazy eyes, even her stupid crazy cat…they're just crazy beautiful to me now. _

* * *

A/N: phew! I had to do a lot of work on this chapter. I fixed it up quite a bit...I hope it's better now! Tell me what you thought of it! 


	15. Chapter 15

Disclaimer: Anything relating to the Harry Potter stories belongs to J. K. Rowling. She can have my characters and ideas as well.

CHAPTER 15

Nora quickly walked towards the Gryffindor common room, hovering her trunk behind her. When she arrived at the portrait of the Fat Lady she realized that she didn't know the new password to get in.

"Shit!" she said out loud. "How am I going to get in now? I'm going to have to wait until someone comes in or out of here."

Lucky for her, a minute later, James and Lily came strolling down the corridor together.

"Hey!" Nora called out, happy to see them.

"Hey, Nora." Lily said with a smile.

"Hey, what happened to you? Where were you today?" James asked as they approached her.

"Oh I missed the train." Nora explained. "I had to come through a portkey. I just got here." Nora had, in fact, missed the Hogwarts Express that morning. It was the last night of the holidays, and Nora and her mother had stayed up late talking and packing. When she woke up the next day, she realized that the train had just left. Fortunately, there was a portkey to the school very close to her house that she was able to get permission from the headmaster to use.

"Ah." James said nodding his head. "I was looking for you on the train. I thought maybe you were going to tell me…something." James cleared his throat and jerked his head slightly towards Lily without her noticing.

"Oh right." Nora said, understanding what he was talking about. "You wanted to know about the…_assignment_, right?"

"Yes." James nodded with a smile.

"Okay well I obviously didn't get a chance to work on it," Nora said, choosing her words carefully, "so I'll have to do tonight and give it to you tomorrow."

"What assignment are you guys talking about?" Lily asked, looking confused.

"Muggle Studies." James said without any hesitation.

"Oh okay." Lily said with relief. "I was worried for a second." They gave Nora the password and she headed inside. Nora walked through the common room, and was thankful to see that Remus wasn't in there. She was still a little embarrassed about what had happened in the hospital and didn't feel like facing him just yet. Thinking of that day reminded her of Sirius as well. _Hmm...he isn't here either._ Shelby and Michelle were sitting on a couch having an intense conversation. Nora didn't have any doubts that they were discussing the latest gossip going around the school. Nora waved them a hello and made her way up to the dorm. By the time she finished unpacking her trunk and changing into her pajamas, Lily entered the dorm. Nora realized that Shelby and Michelle would be coming up very soon so she decided to get started on her _assignment_ right away.

"So how was patrolling with James?" she asked Lily casually.

Lily shrugged her shoulders nonchalantly. "Same as always."

"You know," Nora said as she rubbed some lotion onto her arms, "I never really knew James that well until this year. He's a really nice guy."

"Yeah," Lily said in an unsure tone, "if he wants to be."

"If he _wants_ to be?" Nora asked. "What do you mean? Of course he wants to be. He's a good guy. I mean, I know he used to get in trouble a lot before with those pranks and stuff. But he hasn't done anything this year."

"I dunno." Lily said with a slight frown. "I have a hard time letting things go. So I still see that bullying, arrogant, player whenever I look at him."

"Oh that's so unfair." Nora said shaking her head disapprovingly. "He's not like that at all. And he's never been a player either. I mean girls go fawning after him. He never did anything."

"Well…okay." Lily said in agreement. "I'll admit he's not as bad as Sirius. At least I haven't seen him with anyone at all this year."

"You know," Nora began to say thoughtfully, "I haven't seen Sirius with anyone lately either…"

"Er…well I saw him chatting up Dana Abbott tonight at dinner." Lily said.

"You did?" Nora asked with some surprise. _Dana Abbott? Is he nuts? _

"Yeah. They seemed pretty…cozy." Lily replied.

"Oh." Nora said, sounding unconcerned. "Interesting." _So maybe that's where he is right now; somewhere in the castle with Dana._ Nora thought to herself as she tucked herself into her bed to go to sleep. Lily continued to talk to her for a bit, but most of what she said didn't really register in Nora's head. Her mind kept wandering off and she found herself thinking about the last time she saw Sirius, after she left him after the hospital trip. He wasn't in the greatest mood, and Nora thought maybe it was because she yelled at him about Remus. _Well, I said I was sorry_. She justified herself as her eyelids drooped down heavily. _He was probably just tired and cranky…_

* * *

Nora walked down to the common room the next morning and found James sitting on a couch, evidently waiting for her. 

"So?" he asked when she approached him. "How was the _assignment_ last night?" There were quite a few students coming in and out of the room, so James felt the need to still talk in their code.

"Oh…um…actually I think it was a little more difficult than I thought it would be." Nora said with an apologetic smile.

"What? What do you mean?" James asked, looking tense.

"Well, the directions were a little _unclear_." Nora replied.

"Unclear?" James repeated looking bewildered.

"Yeah." Nora nodded. "I think you might have to work a little harder on your part."

"Damn." James said, sounding defeated.

"But don't worry." Nora said quickly. "I think you have a pretty good chance. Just don't do anything stupid. And…be yourself."

"But I'm always myself." James said.

"Yes." Nora said meaningfully, "But, you have to be your non-bullying, non-arrogant self that doesn't talk to any other girls."

"Oh, shit." James cursed, not bothering to talk in code anymore. "Is that what she thinks of me then?"

"Well, I think she knows you're not like that deep down inside, but you probably made quite an impression on her these past few years so it's hard for her to forget things."

James shook his head miserably and Nora tried to tell him that it wasn't as bad as he thought. She told him that Lily would be on her way down soon so he decided to wait for her to go down to breakfast. Nora headed down herself to the Great Hall, where she saw Remus sitting alone at one of the tables. _Oh good_. Nora thought to herself. _He's by himself. This is a good chance to talk to him before anybody else comes…like Sirius._ As soon as he saw her, he waved at her to join him.

"Hey, how're you doing?" Nora asked as she sat down. _How do I bring it up?_

"Well, much better than the last time you saw me, that's for sure." Remus said with a smile.

"Oh, right." Nora said. _Well, that was easy_. She decided to cut right to the chase. "Listen, about what happened at the hospital…I wanted to apologize again for barging in on you."

"What?" Remus asked with a puzzled smile.

"I know I must've seemed really rude and awkward. I was just really embarrassed." Nora explained, her cheeks beginning to feel warm just thinking about it.

"I don't know what you're talking about." Remus said to her. "You weren't rude at all."

"But still…" Nora said earnestly. "I just feel like I totally invaded your privacy. I'm sure you didn't want anyone to know about it and then there I just came waltzing in."

"Nora please, just listen to me." Remus said in a serious but still friendly tone. "I really don't care if you know. I'm fine with it. In fact, I probably would've told you myself sooner or later."

"Really?" Nora asked him.

"Yeah. I mean, I'm not going to be able to hide it forever. And I consider you a pretty good friend and I know you're not the type that would've freaked out on me so I would've told you soon enough." Remus said.

Nora sensed his sincerity and felt much better. She started to eat her breakfast, feeling more comfortable with Remus than she had ever been before. _Hmm._ She thought happily. _So he considers me a good friend…that's a step forward._

"So where's Sirius?" Nora asked him as she helped herself to a muffin. "I haven't seen him at all yet."

"You just missed him. He was here about a minute before you came." Remus replied.

"Oh." Nora said. "Well I guess I'll bump into him sometime today."

* * *

Nora had only finished her first two classes of the day, and she was already swamped with work. She had to run to the library right at the start of lunch so that she could check out a book for a History of Magic essay before anybody else in her class did. It took her longer than expected to find and by the time she was out of the library, there was only ten minutes left for her to eat. When she entered the Great Hall, she saw that most of the students were already gone. She looked around trying to see if anyone was still around that she could eat with, but didn't see anyone. She sat down at one of the many empty tables and put a couple of sandwiches onto her plate. As she was eating, she realized that she still hadn't ran into Sirius yet. _Hmm,_ she thought to herself. _I haven't bumped into him even once today. Well I guess I'll see him in Muggle Studies later on._ She quickly scarped down the last of her sandwich and headed to her next class. 

Nora actually caught herself feeling a little glad to be going to her Muggle Studies class later on that evening. Although she told herself she felt happy because it was her last class of the day, she knew somewhere inside that she really wanted to see Sirius again. _ I feel like I haven't seen him in so long! I think I got so used hanging out with him all the time last semester that now it just feels weird that I haven't talked to him yet._

Just as she was thinking this, she turned into a hallway and bumped right into someone walking in the opposite direction.

"Oh sorry!" It was Remus. "I didn't see you coming there."

"Neither did I." Nora said with a smile. She didn't mind bumping into him at all. They started to talk for a few minutes and just as Nora was laughing at some amusing story that Remus was telling her about what the boys did over the break, Nora saw Sirius walk right past them.

"Hey!" she called out to him and he turned around.

"Oh hey, what's up?" Sirius said very casually, as if he hadn't noticed her laughing with Remus when he walked by.

"Nothing much. I was wondering where you were." Nora said in a very friendly tone. "I was just telling Remus about how I haven't seen you the whole day."

"Oh." Sirius said, avoiding her eye. "Yeah, you must be…busy."

Before Nora could respond to him, Remus suddenly said, "Oh, I'm going to be late for class. I gotta run."

"Oh, right." Nora said to him. "I guess I'll see you later at dinner."

"Yeah." he said and then added, "Don't forget we have Prefect duty tonight too."

"I know, I didn't forget." Nora said with a smile and he turned onto the adjacent corridor and headed to his class. When Nora turned back to talk to Sirius, she saw that he was gone. _What the hell?_ Nora thought looking around. _Why'd he leave to class without me?_

She walked down the hall into the classroom and saw him sitting next to James in the back of the classroom. She walked down to them and put her books down on the table right in front of Sirius, who had a book propped up in front of his face. James was busily scribbling down something in a notebook.

Nora sat down and turned herself to face Sirius. She pulled his book down from his face and asked, "Why'd you leave so quickly?"

He stared at her for a moment and then just shrugged indifferently and said, "I dunno. I thought I'd be late for class."

Nora looked at him puzzled. "Since when do you care about being late?"

"Since now." he said simply.

Nora frowned at him. "You don't seem to be in a very good mood."

"I'm in a great mood." Sirius said rather dryly.

"Doesn't seem like it." Nora said. She rested her elbow on his desk comfortably and said in a lighter tone, while absent-mindedly twirling a curly lock of hair, "So tell me. What's wrong?"

"What makes you think something is wrong?" Sirius asked her. He could smell the scent of her shampoo and found himself wishing he could twirl a lock of her hair as well. He leaned back in his chair, afraid that she was a little too close to him for him to handle.

"I dunno." Nora replied. "You just don't seem like yourself."

"Nope." Sirius said with a fake smile. "I'm being totally like myself."

Nora frowned at him and was about to say something when the professor started to address the class. Nora quickly turned around in her seat and Sirius let out a breath of relief. _Shit._ He said to himself. _How the hell am I going to get over this? I didn't see her the whole day, and when I do, what is she doing? Talking and laughing with Remus. She knows about Remus now and she doesn't seem to mind his problem. He'll realize that and probably start to like her too…if he already doesn't._ Sirius leaned forward into his seat and rested his head on his hand. He was close to Nora now and was staring at the back of her head, not paying attention to anything that was happening in the class. She was twirling her hair again. _Why do I like her so much? There's nothing that special about her, is there? I mean, there are so many other girls in this school. Like yesterday, I was talking to Dana. She's pretty and she seems to obviously like me. So why would I like Nora more than her? Nora isn't prettier than her. She isn't nicer than her. She doesn't even like me. So what the hell is my problem?_

Just as this frustrating thought was going through Sirius's mind, Nora suddenly turned around to face him. She didn't realize he was leaning so close to her and was taken by surprise. She moved away from him quickly, but it wasn't quick enough for her not to have noticed the very handsome features on his face.

Sirius raised his eyebrows at her as if to ask her what she wanted. Nora, who felt oddly flustered, couldn't remember what she wanted to say to him, so she just turned back around wordlessly. _Wait a minute._ Nora thought to herself. _What the hell is my problem? It's just Sirius, you idiot._

She turned back around and asked him quietly, "Do we have Quidditch practice this week?"

Sirius stretched back in his chair and put his hands behind his head. He sighed heavily and said in a very unconcerned tone, "Why are you asking me? Ask the captain."

Nora, who suddenly contemplated to herself how easy it was for someone to look really good one moment and then a jackass the next, gave him cut-eye and turned back around.

Sirius leaned forward onto his desk again, letting out a sigh. He ran his hands in his hair and closed his eyes. _What the hell am I doing? Trying to make her hate me or something? Why I am giving her so much attitude? I can't seem to control myself. It's just coming out involuntarily. I'm just not going to talk to her at all before I say something really stupid and regret it later on..._

* * *

Their first Quidditch practice wasn't until the following week. As she was hovering on her broomstick, seeking the Snitch, she began to reflect on how she had never been so swamped with work before in her life. With Prefect duties, and practices starting up, she hardly had time to eat or sleep, and really didn't have time to contemplate why Sirius was acting so strange these days. She hardly saw him anyways, and just assumed he was busy with school as well. 

Nora saw something fluttering in the distance. She peered down the pitch and saw Sirius flying in the same direction. She quickly flew towards the Snitch. It dropped down and Nora dove down and caught it with ease. She flew back up and Sirius was hovering next to her.

"Good catch." he said to her solemnly.

"Thanks." Nora said with a smile. She started to feel glad that he actually said something to her. He hadn't aimed a single Bludger at her head the whole practice, and Nora was strangely starting to miss the attention. Nora glanced down at the bleachers and saw that Remus was down there watching them practice again. She turned and was about to say something to Sirius, but he flew away just as she opened her mouth. _Oh._ She watched him fly away, feeling a little nettled_. What's wrong with him?_ She thought frustratingly, still watching him. _Why isn't he talking to me like he normally does? Did I do something to him? Is he still mad from that day at the hospital? He didn't seem that mad though. So what is it? _

* * *

The next day when Nora entered the Great Hall for lunch, she saw Sirius sitting at a table with Remus and James across from him. There was nobody sitting next to him, and Nora decided she would try to figure out if there was something wrong with him. 

Nora walked up to the table, patted Sirius's arm and said, "Hey, move over a bit." Sirius, who was slightly startled by her touch, moved over to give her some space, but Nora didn't sit down.

"What the heck was what?" she asked him angrily.

"What was what?" Sirius asked her back.

"You just shrank back from me like I have some disgusting contagious disease." Nora replied, still sounding angry.

"No, I didn't." Sirius said, turning back to his food.

"Yes, you did." Nora said sitting down next to him.

"I dunno what you're talking about." Sirius said quietly. Nora looked up at Remus and James and gave them an inquisitive look. They both just shrugged at her, not knowing what was bothering their friend. Nora eyed Sirius suspiciously, who was eating in silence. She purposely reached for the salt, which was right next to his hand. As soon as she reached for it, he quickly moved his hand out of the way.

"Aha!" Nora said pointing at him accusingly. "See! You just did it again!"

Sirius let out a short breath, dropped his fork on his plate and said, "I can't eat." He quickly stood up without saying another word and left the table.

Nora sat there, completely stunned. She turned to James and Remus and said, "Okay, _what_ the heck was that all about? You guys have to tell me what his problem is."

* * *

A/N: Hehehe...well, I didn't have to change too much in this chapter...just added and deleted some stuff. Hope you like it! Let me know what you thought... 


	16. Chapter 16

Disclaimer: Anything relating to the Harry Potter stories belongs to J. K. Rowling. She can have my characters and ideas as well.

CHAPTER 16

_I am going completely mental_. Sirius thought to himself as he stormed out of the Great Hall. _What the hell did I just do? I am so thick. She is going to think I'm the biggest jerk in the whole world now._ He strolled around aimlessly, cursing to himself, until he found that he was right in front of Gryffindor Tower. He walked through the portrait hole and went straight up to the boys' dormitory. As soon as he walked into his room, he slammed the door shut and plopped himself onto his bed. He didn't feel like going to any more classes today.

Back in the Great Hall where Sirius had left a very bewildered Nora, she was still trying to figure out from James and Remus what was wrong with their friend.

"I don't get it." Nora said to them, feeling agitated. "I mean, he was totally fine with me over the break. Okay that day we went to the hospital, on our way back, I might've been a little upset, but I apologized and he was totally fine!"

"Hmm." James said. "Now that I think about it, he did seem a bit cranky when he came back that day."

"He was?" Nora asked, "Well, he was a little on the cranky side, but I figured that was just 'cause he was tired from the night before."

"Don't worry." Remus said. "I'm sure he's just got some family problems or something. I'm sure it isn't you personally."

"Remus is right." James agreed with him. "Sirius does get a bit moody every once in a while. He'll be fine."

"Whatever." Nora said indifferently, finishing her lunch. "If he wants to be moody with me then that's his problem. I don't care."

Nora didn't see Sirius again the rest of the day, and she told herself again that she didn't care. She didn't care when she noticed he didn't come to Muggle Studies class. She didn't care when she didn't see him at dinner. And she didn't care when she didn't spot him in the common room later that evening as she passed through on her way to the library to a group meeting. _Where the hell did he go?_

_

* * *

Where the hell should I go? I'm bored out of my mind. Stupid Four-eyes. I can't stop thinking about her._ Sirius had finally left his dormitory while the other students were attending the last class of the day. He walked around the halls, doing nothing in particular, until he felt his belly grumble. Dinner in the Great Hall would be served very soon, but he didn't feel like talking to anybody or seeing Nora, so he found his way to the kitchens and helped himself to some food. He stayed there until he knew everyone would be done eating, and then crept out of the kitchens and started to walk around the school. 

Now that it was dark and there was nobody around, Sirius began to feel restless. He walked around the castle until he made his way back to Gryffindor Tower. He wanted to go into the common room to be with his friends, but he was afraid of seeing Nora inside. _Why is she affecting me this way? Every time I see her, I just end up saying something stupid and pissing her off. So I try to avoid her but then she notices and starts asking all these stupid questions, which just piss **me** off. Man, isn't it obvious that I like her? Is she that thick that she doesn't realize it? Is she so in love with Remus that she doesn't notice anything or anyone else around her? I think she really did need those stupid glasses. _After a few minutes of doing absolutely nothing, Sirius couldn't take it anymore. _I don't care if she's in there. I'm going in._ When Sirius entered the common room through the portrait hole, he was relieved to see that Nora wasn't there. James, Remus and Peter were near the fireplace playing a game of exploding snap.

"Hey, there you are." James said to Sirius, looking up from the game. "Where've you been all day?"

"Around." Sirius said slumping onto a couch. He surveyed the common room and glanced in the direction of the girls' dormitory.

"She's not here." said James.

"Who's not?" Sirius asked grumpily.

"Nobody." Remus said, giving James a covert look. James gave Remus a small smile and Remus tried very hard to keep a straight face. He cleared his throat and furrowed his brows, to try and hide his smile. He kept his eyes on his cards and asked Sirius, "Do you want to play?" Sirius looked up at Remus and saw that he had a slight frown on his face.

_Oh no._ Sirius suddenly thought to himself. _Remus thinks I like Nora. If he likes her too and he knows that she likes him, then what the hell am I doing? I'm going to be in his way. I can't do that to him. He's already got it rough…_

* * *

Nora was sitting at a table in the library with Anthony Chang. She was working on a group assignment with him and another Ravenclaw girl, Lanie Lovegood, for their Herbology class. Lanie had gone to search for some books while Nora and Anthony were working on another part of the project. 

Nora was scribbling some notes down when Anthony suddenly said to her, "Did you know that your eyes are different colors?"

Nora looked up at Anthony with a slight puzzled look and said, "Er…yes." Nora had to fight the urge to yell out: _No way! You're kidding me! They are? I had nooo idea! I mean, I've never looked at my eyes before…._

"They're very pretty." Anthony said shyly.

"Oh." Nora said, suddenly feeling guilty for the tirade she just had in her head. "Thanks."

"Sorry I took so long." said Lanie, who had just come back to the table with a pile of books. "I just ran into Dana Abbott and she was telling me about how yesterday she and Sirius—"

"Lanie," Anthony suddenly interrupted her, "We don't really care about the latest gossip going around the school. We need to finish this project." Nora would've felt the same sentiments if it weren't for the fact that Lanie had peaked her interest by mentioning Sirius's name.

Lanie looked a little offended and Anthony smiled and shook his head, "You're worse than your brother. I swear he used to make up the craziest stories when he was in school."

"He doesn't make stuff up." Lanie said defensively. While she and Anthony continued to argue about the merit of Lanie's brother's stories, Nora's mind was wandering back to Sirius_. I wonder what's going on between him and Dana. And where has he been the whole day? With **her**?_

* * *

Nora did end up seeing Sirius the next day, but she decidedly ignored him as she was still angry about their last confrontation, and he seemed to be doing the same thing. For three days, they didn't exchange a single word with each other. It wasn't until after dinner one evening that Nora spoke to him. She was in the girls' dormitory, changing out of her school robes when she realized that she had a group meeting for Herbology scheduled at the same time as her Prefect duty the next day. She decided that she would ask Remus if he could switch shifts with her. She went down to the common room and didn't see him down there so she thought maybe he went up to the dorms. 

Nora went up and knocked on the boys' dormitory door. After a few seconds, the door opened and holding it was a mildly surprised looking Sirius…without a shirt on.

"Oh." Nora said, trying very hard not to stare at his naked chest. She forced herself to keep her eyes on his face and she said, in an even tone. "I see. It's you."

"Yes it is." Sirius said, leaning a little against the door frame. Nora could've sworn that she saw his muscles flex a little, and he asked, with a bit of attitude, "Can I help you?"

"Yeah…uh…" Nora tried to remember what it was that she wanted, but she was concentrating too hard on trying not to stare at Sirius's body. She kept her eyes on his and noticed that he was furrowing his brows a bit, waiting for answer. _Wait a second_. Nora reasoned with herself. _What the hell am I getting all flustered for? It's just this idiot._ She finally remembered what she came for but before asking about it, she looked at Sirius with a slight frown, "Why aren't you wearing a shirt?"

"Because I knew it was you knocking on the door and I wanted to seduce you into coming in to the empty room with me." said Sirius in a bored tone and Nora stared at him looking very unimpressed. Sirius rolled his eyes slightly and said impatiently, "I just came out of the shower."

"Oh." Nora said blandly. "Anyways, is Remus there?"

Sirius put his arm down and stood up straight. He had the sudden urge to slam the door on her face but he just said, clenching his jaw a little, "No. He's at the library."

"Oh. Okay." Nora said, starting to wrestle with her eyes again.

"Is that all you wanted?" he asked her.

"Yeah." Nora replied.

"Okay then if you'll excuse me, I have to get ready to meet someone." Sirius said importantly. He could see Nora frown a little and her mouth start to open like she was going to say something but he quickly shut the door on her before she could.

Sirius leaned his back against the door and let out a breath and said out loud. "I don't know how long I'm going to be able to keep this up."

* * *

Nora and Remus were at their Prefect duty later that night when James suddenly came sprinting down the hall. "Shit!" he exclaimed when he reached them. 

"What happened?" Nora asked him worriedly.

"What did I just do?" James looked completely panicky.

"What did you do?" Remus asked him, looking concerned.

"I dunno." James said, running his hands nervously through his untidy hair. "I…we were just talking…and I dunno why I did it."

"Did what?" Nora asked him, looking very confused now.

"I kissed her." James said pathetically and buried his face in his hands.

"Kissed who?" Nora asked, her eyes wide.

"Lily." James's muffled voice replied.

"Oh." Nora said, she was about to crack a smile when she noticed that Remus didn't look as amused as she felt.

"So what did she do?" Remus asked James.

"I have no idea." James said, picking his head up. "I ran as soon as I realized what I did!"

"Oh my God. James!" Nora exclaimed. "You kissed her and ran away?"

"I freaked out! She's probably really mad! Oh bugger, what do I do? She's going to hate me now for sure. Stupid! Stupid! Stupid!" James said smacking his head.

"She's not going to hate you." Remus said reassuringly.

"She'll probably come around this way." James said, taking a look behind him. He turned back to Nora and Remus and said pleadingly. "Listen, if she asks…she probably won't but just in case she does…don't tell her I was here or where I went. Okay?"

"Yeah sure, don't worry." Nora said and James ran off, still cursing to himself.

Sure enough, just a minute after James disappeared, Lily came strolling through the hall, looking a little flushed.

When she approached Nora and Remus, she asked them, a little nervously, "Hey, have you guys by any chance seen James?"

Without saying a word, Remus and Nora both pointed in the direction that James had went in. Lily looked at them a little strangely, her face turned a deep pink and she quickly left in the advised direction.

"She didn't look too mad, did she?" Nora said with a grin.

"Nope." Remus said grimly.

"I hope she isn't. I think they'd be so good together. Don't you think so?" Nora asked Remus.

"Yeah." Remus said nodding his head slowly, but looking like he was far away. "Definitely."

Nora noticed he was a little out of it and asked him, "What's wrong?"

"Nothing." Remus said, rubbing his neck. "Just tired."

"Are you sure?" Nora asked him suspiciously. Nora had the creeping feeling that maybe Remus had a crush on Lily.

"Yeah." Remus said taking a seat on the ground and leaning against the wall. "It's nothing really. Just sometimes I start thinking about what I'm going to do after school's over and stuff…I just get a little stressed out."

"Oh." Nora said and sat down next to him. "So you don't have any plans?"

"Well, it'll be a little hard to get a job with my situation." he said to Nora. "And it's not just the whole job situation either. I mean, I can't even have a normal social life. How hard do you think it would be for me to even get a date? 'Hi, nice to meet you. I'm a werewolf. Would you like to go out with me?'" Remus imitated himself sarcastically.

"Remus," Nora said disapprovingly, "First of all you wouldn't meet people that way. Second of all, once any girl gets to know you, they won't care about your problem. Trust me."

Remus gave her a wry smile. "You're just being nice. Ah, it doesn't matter anyways. I don't think I'll ever be able to have a serious relationship with anyone. I'm just way too dangerous."

"Oh please." Nora said rolling her eyes. "Are you crazy?"

"No really." Remus said. "You don't know what it's like when I transform."

Nora was still looking at him critically and he said with a smile, "Oh well. I shouldn't even be thinking about relationships right now. I'm only seventeen anyways. Maybe by the time I'm thirty and they've come up with a cure I think about having a girlfriend."

"Oh." Nora thought that hearing something like this coming from Remus would have completely shattered her world, but strangely, the news seemed to have little effect on her. It was almost as if she was expecting it.

"I think I'd rather just keep friends." Remus said resolutely. "Especially when I leave this place and get into the real world. I'll need as many as I can get."

"Well, you're very likeable." Nora said. "You're bound to make friends wherever you go."

Remus shook his head with a smile and leaned his head back on the wall. "So you think Lily found James?" he asked her.

"I dunno." Nora shrugged. "I hope so. Those two just need to get together quickly. I dunno why they're taking forever."

"Me neither." Remus said. "They seem pretty perfect for each other."

"A lot of girls are going to be disappointed." Nora said with a grin.

"Guys too." Remus added. "But, if anyone deserves a girl like Lily, it's James."

"And vice versa." said Nora.

"Of course." Remus agreed with her.

At the same time Remus and Nora were having their tête-à-tête, Sirius was just leaving his "meeting" with Dana. He was walking down a corridor when he spotted the two of them, sitting close together on the ground. Sirius couldn't hear what they were saying, but it seemed to him like they were having an intense conversation. He stopped in his tracks, looked at them for a moment, and then turned around. He felt a knot in his stomach tighten, and something hot bubbling up inside him as he walked alone in the dark.

"So what's up with you and Sirius?" Remus suddenly asked Nora.

"What do you mean?" Nora asked him.

"I don't know…" Remus shrugged, "I thought you two were going to hook up or something."

"What?" Nora said with a confused smile. "Why would you think that?"

"Well I thought it was pretty obvious that you liked each other." Remus replied.

Nora laughed at the absurdity of the idea and said, "Sirius doesn't like me."

"How do you know?" Remus inquired.

"Because I know." Nora said confidently. "He always used to tease me about liking…someone else."

"Well," Remus said. "I've never seen him give any other girl the amount of attention he used to give you."

"_Used_ to." Nora emphasized. "Anyways, we're just friends. I don't know what his problem is now though. He hardly talks to me." Nora frowned a little just thinking about how much Sirius had suddenly changed towards her.

"Yeah I noticed." Remus said, and a thought seemed to have crossed his mind. "So you never like Sirius either?

"Me?" Nora asked and laughed out loud. "No I…I didn't…I mean _don't_." Nora's thoughts suddenly became a little jumbled and she felt something stir inside her stomach. As she sat there, staring at the corridor wall across from her, she started to see flashes of memories passing by: Sirius teasing her during Quidditch practice…her and Sirius working on their assignments late at night together…the day they lost Yolk at Hogsmeade…the night Bert was attacked and he came to see if she was alright…Sirius coming with her to St. Mungo's….Sirius standing at the dorm door shirtless…._ No, no, no. Wait a second…._Nora tried to clear her head but she kept seeing his face.

"Nora?" Her thoughts were finally interrupted as she heard Remus's voice next to her.

"Yeah?" she asked him.

"Are you okay?" he asked her, looking a little concerned.

"What? Oh. Yeah! Fine." Nora said quickly with a fake smile. Inside, Nora could feel herself start to panic. _Oh bugger. What is going on? I don't like…no. Don't even think it. It's impossible. It's ridiculous. Anyways, I still have a thing for Remus. Don't I? _

Nora turned her head slightly and took a good look at Remus. He was with no doubt, good looking, but she realized that she just wasn't attracted to him like she was before. He looked up at her and gave her a friendly smile, the same one that used to make her cheeks burn. But now, she just smiled back and turned her head forward again, feeling…nothing. She became suddenly became conscious of the fact that it had been a while since she felt nervous about being around him. _So is that it?_ She asked herself. _Is that why I didn't care so much when I thought he had a thing for Lily and then found out that he doesn't want a relationship with anyone?_ _Was my mother right? Was I mistaking pity for love? _

* * *

A/N: Not much to change in this one either...I don't know why, but for some reason, I didn't get any e-mail alerts for the last chapter. I hope this chapter goes through. Well, tell me how you liked this chapter! 


	17. Chapter 17

Disclaimer: Anything relating to the Harry Potter stories belongs to J. K. Rowling. She can have my characters and ideas as well.

CHAPTER 17

When Nora headed to the Great hall for breakfast the next morning, she felt like a million butterflies were buzzing around her in stomach. She kept telling herself that it was just school stress that was making her feel that way, but she knew deep down it was something else. Ever since she realized the night before that she wasn't in love with Remus, Nora had the sinking sensation that her feelings were being directed at someone else. _No, they're not!_ Nora scolded herself. _Don't be stupid. Of all the guys in the school, he is the **last** person you would ever fall for. You can't be another one of those girls that fawn and swoon over him. Yuck. _

Nora walked into the hall, anxiously looking around to see if anyone was sitting inside yet. She was relieved to find Remus sitting alone at a table and took a seat across from him.

"You're up early for a Saturday." he said to her.

"I couldn't sleep." she said and then asked with a frown. "Why are _you _up so early?"

"I'm always up this early." Remus said with a smile. "I like to come down here before everyone else does."

"Yeah, it's nice and peaceful." Nora said while buttering some toast. She perused the Great Hall and then casually asked, "So...I guess all of your roommates are still asleep?"

"No." Remus said. "I think Peter was up and Sirius was in the shower when I left." Nora suddenly got a mental image of Sirius in the shower and shook her head a little. _Stop it!_

"But James was still asleep." Remus continued. "I think he came up really late last night."

"Hey!" Nora exclaimed suddenly remembering something. "Lily wasn't upstairs either when I went up to bed. I fell asleep before I saw her come in."

"Interesting." Remus said curiously, rubbing his chin. Nora looked up and saw Michelle and Shelby pass behind Remus. Michelle eyed Nora and Remus stealthily, and then whispered something to Shelby.

"Oh my God." Nora said rolling her eyes.

"What?" Remus asked her.

"This is why I'm not friends with any girls." Nora said shaking her head with irritation. "All they do is gossip."

"Why?" Remus asked and looked over in Michelle and Shelby's direction. They were sitting on the other side of the long table, still whispering and eyeing Nora and Remus.

Remus chuckled to himself and then said with a mischievous smile, "Here, give me your hand for a second." Nora gave it to him and he held it in his.

"You think they're looking at us now?" he asked her with a grin. Nora turned her head slightly and saw that Michelle's eyes were wider than Shelby's open gawking mouth.

Nora and Remus looked at each other and burst out laughing. They were both still holding hands and laughing hysterically when Nora suddenly saw Sirius standing right next to Remus.

Sirius looked at both of them with a puzzled look and asked, "What the heck are you two so happy about?" Nora and Remus looked at each other for a second and then burst out laughing again. Nora had to finally let go of Remus's hand so that she could clutch her stomach, which was now full of an odd mixture of laughing cramps and nervousness.

Nora cleared her throat when her laughter died out and continued to eat her breakfast, her face now feeling a little warm. Her cramps were gone now but the nervousness in her stomach was still there.

The toast she was eating started to taste like cardboard and just as she put it down she heard someone say, "Hey Four-eyes, can you pass me the pumpkin juice?"

Nora's head shot up in Sirius's direction. He was looking at her expectantly, but she just stared at him, too surprised at the fact that he had just addressed her to do anything.

"Hello!" Sirius said, waving his hand in front of her.

"What?" Nora said, snapping out of her state of astonishment.

"Pumpkin juice?" Sirius asked.

"Oh, right." Nora said picking up the jug and passing it to him. As the jug exchanged their hands, Nora felt her fingers touch his and a shiver went through her body like a current.

_Shit, I knew this wasn't going to be easy_. Sirius thought to himself, feeling the same shivery sensation pass through him as he took the jug of juice from Nora. _Well, they seem pretty happy together, don't they._ He decided last night, after he had seen Nora and Remus together, that he would put any non-platonic feelings or thoughts he had for her out of his head forever. That meant that he had to act like he always did with her before; he didn't want to arouse any suspicions in Remus. As he ate his breakfast, Sirius kept stealing glances at Nora. She was oddly quiet, and her eyebrows were furrowed as if her mind was preoccupied. Every once in a while she'd twirl a strand of her curls. _Damn, why does she have to be so cute?_ Sirius thought remorsefully as he continued to eat.

Nora was concentrating very hard on not trying to eye Sirius so much. She hoped he would say something else to her, but he seemed to be rather engrossed in eating his breakfast. _Oh no_. Nora thought to herself miserably as she twirled her hair. _He looks so damn good. This isn't fair. He's prettier than I am! Even his hair is nicer than mine. Look at how it just falls gracefully onto his face. And then there's mine,_ she thought looking at the curly strand in her hand, _it's like a bloody bird's nest! _She tossed her hair to the side and was about to get up when James strolled tiredly towards their table.

"'Morning." he said with a yawn and slumped down next to Nora. His eyes were drooping as he put some cereal in a bowl and then poured pumpkin juice into it. Nora, Sirius and Remus all stared at James with their mouths slightly open. Before James put a spoonful into his mouth, Lily came rushing into the Great Hall, holding her books and wearing her school robes.

"I can't believe I overslept!" she exclaimed as she took the other seat next to Nora and started to stuff a cranberry muffin into her mouth.

"Uh…Lily…" Nora began to say, "Today is Saturday."

"What?" Lily said looking confused at the same time that James suddenly spit out the spoonful of cereal he had just put into his mouth right across on Sirius.

Sirius sat there looking at James disgustedly with his hands in the air as James made a face of distaste and said, "God damn! What the hell was that?"

Sirius, still looking grossed-out, started flicking off specks of cereal from his shirt. James grabbed a muffin and some toast and piled some eggs onto his plate, oblivious to the fact that he had just spayed his friend with the contents that were previously in his mouth.

"So, Lily," James said, looking past Nora towards her, "Did you want to work on those reports for Dumbledore right after we're done eating or later on in the afternoon?"

"Reports?" Lily asked James looking confused, but then suddenly said with realization. "Oh! _Right_…well we can work on them in the afternoon."

"Oh." James said looking a little disappointed. "Are you sure you don't want to start early? What if we need more time?"

Nora turned her head slightly to the right towards Lily and saw her biting her nail, trying to cover up a smile. "Um…" Lily said looking like she was contemplating something, "Okay I guess we could do it earlier."

Nora turned her eyes to her left now to look at James and saw him looking very pleased with himself. She looked across at Remus and saw that he looked just as suspicious as she felt.

"So what exactly do you have to put in these _reports_?" Sirius asked James as he flicked another piece of cereal off of his arm.

"Er…" James stuttered, evidently taken by surprise by Sirius's question, "You know…just Head stuff." Nora could tell that Lily was starting to squirm a little in her seat.

"Head stuff." Sirius repeated, with his eyebrow raised in disbelief. His eyes automatically shifted from James to Nora, and saw that she was looking right at him. His eyebrow dropped back down slowly and he just gazed into her eyes for a second and then looked away.

_Oh my God_. Nora felt like she was in serious trouble. _This might be worse than I thought. Okay just relax. It's nothing. It's just physical attraction. So what if I'm suddenly finding him excruciatingly irresistible in every way? It'll pass…as long as he never looks at me like that again…I'll be fine._

But Nora knew she wasn't fine. She purposely tried to avoid bumping into Sirius the whole day, afraid that her attraction for him would only grow stronger. Every time she heard his voice coming from a certain direction or caught a glimpse of him from afar, she would walk the other way. She purposely skipped lunch so that she could avoid seeing him. It didn't matter to her anyways, she couldn't eat. Her stomach was still so full of butterflies and she found her heart start to race every time she thought of him. _God, I think I'm going crazy! _Nora thought as she headed towards the library that evening for a group meeting with Anthony and Lanie. She had just walked through the common room where James, Sirius and Peter were lounging around. Nora could have sworn she saw Sirius look at her on her way out and it made her heart skip a beat and left her with a tingly feeling. _I've got to get my mind off of him._

_

* * *

Damn, _Sirius thought as he watched Nora walk out of the common room, her curly hair bouncing a little with every step that she took. _I'd like to bounce on her—oh for Merlin's sake, I'm doing it again!_ Sirius shook his head to clear it out._ I gotta stop thinking about her like that. I think I'm going to go mad. I need a distraction. Hmm…I told Dana I'd meet her now anyways._ Sirius got up and left his friends in the common room, heading to where he was supposed to meet up with Dana. On his way there, he thought about the conversation he had with her earlier in the afternoon... 

She bumped into him after lunch and asked him with curiosity, "Is it true that Nora and Remus are going out?"

"What do you mean?" Sirius had asked her, his heart racing from the fact that he was about to hear his biggest fear confirmed.

"Well, Shelby and Michelle told me that they were holding hands or something at breakfast." Dana said, looking at Sirius expectantly.

"Oh." Sirius said, relieved that that was the only information she had. "Yeah, I saw that."

"So it _is_ true then!" Dana exclaimed.

"Well, it _might_ be true." Sirius said reluctantly and then added. "I wouldn't be surprised."

_Wouldn't be surprised at all._ Sirius thought to himself glumly as he turned into corridor that led to the Hufflepuff common room entrance.

* * *

Nora entered the library and found Anthony already sitting down at a table and joined him. 

"Lanie's not here yet?" Nora asked as she took a seat next to him.

"Nope." Anthony replied and moved his seat a little closer to hers.

"Well, I guess we can just start without her." Nora said as she took out her notes.

"Hey, can I ask you some—" Anthony was saying to Nora just as Lanie came bustling towards them.

"Nora!" she exclaimed excitedly, not bothering to keep her voice down. "Is it true that you're going out with Remus Lupin?"

"You are?" Anthony asked Nora with surprise.

"No, I'm not!" Nora said defensively and then asked Lanie. "Where'd you hear that?"

"Oh, I ran into someone who heard it from Dana, who overheard Shelby saying something to Michelle." Lanie said, her big blue eyes sparkling with enthusiasm.

"Oh." Nora said, remembering what had happened during breakfast. "Well, sorry to burst your bubble, but, it's not true. We're just friends."

"But," Lanie started to argue, "Dana said she talked to Sirius today and he said it was true."

"What?" Nora asked Lanie.

"He's one of Remus's best friends. He would know about something like that." Lanie said authoritatively.

"Uh…" Nora said feeling angrier by the minute. "Well, since it's _me _that's supposed to be going out with Remus, I think_ I'd_ have a little more authority on the subject than _Sirius_!"

"So you _are_ going out with Remus!" Lanie exclaimed again.

"Ugh." Nora said putting her head on the table.

"No, Lanie." Anthony said sternly. "She said she wasn't."

Nora lifted her head off of the table. "Thank you, Anthony."

"No problem." Anthony said with a grin and they started to work on their assignment. The whole time they were working, Nora kept thinking about why Sirius would tell Dana that she was going out with Remus. _I don't get it_. She contemplated to herself. _He doesn't really think that I'm with Remus, does he? Wait a minute. _A thought suddenly occurred to her. _Maybe he still thinks that I like Remus. So now he's just assuming that we're together. Is that why he's been acting strange these days? But why would he act strange? Unless he was….jealous? No, no. That's just stupid. Why would he be jealous? It's not like he'd be interested in me. I'm not his type at all. Didn't Lanie say that he was talking to Dana today? Damn, it looks like he's been spending a lot of time with her lately. Oh my goodness…what if he's seriously interested in her? Nah…I don't think he would be. He can't be that shallow. I mean she's pretty…but that's it. No personality or brains. But anyways, why would I care if he really **was** interested in Dana? It's not like **I** want to be with him. Right?_

When they were done and packing up to leave, Anthony came up to Nora and asked her quietly so that Lanie couldn't hear him, "Hey, there really isn't _anything_ going on with you and Lupin, right?"

"Nope." Nora replied, looking at him a little strangely. "We're just friends. Nothing else."

"Oh." he said looking pleased with her answer. "Well, I guess I'll see you tomorrow night then. If you want to meet up a little earlier or something then let me know."

"Uh…okay sure." Nora said a little uncertainly. _Why the heck would we meet earlier? Wait a minute…_

"And if you're not doing anything during the _day_—" he was saying a little nervously before Nora interrupted him.

"Oh! I have Quidditch practice during the day tomorrow." she said quickly. _Holy shit. I think Chang is getting sweet on me!_

"Oh, right." Anthony said, looking a little disappointed.

"Okay, well…good night!" Nora said and hurried out of the library. She was on her way to Gryffindor Tower when she thought she heard some whispering and giggling coming from around the corner. _Oh gosh._ Nora said to herself rolling her eyes. _Can't these people get a room?_

She turned into the corner and stopped dead in her tracks.

"Oh my God!" Nora exclaimed and covered her mouth in surprise as a very embarrassed Lily suddenly pushed James away from her. Nora couldn't move. Her hand was still over her mouth, and that was because she was trying to hide the extremely big smile that was plastered onto her face.

"It's not what it looks like." Lily said nervously.

But James, who could tell that Nora was smiling, grinned at Nora and said, "Oh yes it is."

Nora finally removed her hand from her mouth and Lily looked at the both of them smiling at each other and couldn't help but feel her own mouth twitch.

"So." Nora said to them. "I suppose you two were just working really hard on that _report,_ eh?"

Lily, who was now smiling, cleared her throat and said, "Yeah…we got a lot done."

"I'm sure you did." Nora said as she gave James a friendly pat on the shoulder. "Well, you guys better finish it up. I'll see you later." She left them and continued on her way, feeling very elated. _Aw, I'm so happy for James and Lily! They both looked so happy together. Man, I'm in such a good mood…I don't think anything is going to dampen_—and that's when it finally hit her. Right in the middle of that thought, Nora saw him, next to the portrait hole outside of the Gryffindor common room. He was with Dana...and they were kissing. It made Nora sick to her stomach; she was jealous. That's when Nora finally realized that it wasn't just a passing phase of physical attraction that she was feeling.

She was completely in love with Sirius Black.

But she realized it too late.

* * *

A/N: Muhahaha! And that's the end of the story. 

Just kidding! I didn't have to change much to this chapter so, I posted it pretty quickly. By the way, there is something wrong with my account...I can't seem to recieve any messages/chapter updates/reviews via e-mail. I hope they'll come soon, but until then, if anyone has sent me something, I'm not purposely ignoring you! I just didn't get them yet. Anyhoos, hope you like the chapter! Send me some reviews!


	18. Chapter 18

Disclaimer: Anything relating to the Harry Potter stories belongs to J. K. Rowling. She can have my characters and ideas as well.

CHAPTER 18

Nora couldn't move. She didn't know where to turn without being noticed by them and she wished she could just disapparate out of sight. As she stood there staring at them, she could feel her heart pounding in her chest and the blood in her veins start to boil. She couldn't remember a time where she wanted to hurt somebody more than when she wanted to hurt Dana at that moment. _That stupid bimbo_, she thought to herself with rage. _What the hell does she think she's doing?_ _Hang on a second. What the hell is **he** doing? How could he want someone like her? Who is he supposed to want then?_ Another voice in her head started to ask._ Someone like **you**?_ Nora wanted to scream out a 'YES!', but instead, cleared her throat loudly enough for them to hear.

Sirius and Dana quickly moved apart from each other and away from the portrait hole. As soon as Sirius saw Nora looking at them with apparent disgust, he felt like something in his stomach had just dropped. _Oh, good one, you jackass._ Sirius scolded himself and then thought, _Wait a second. Why do I care if she caught us snogging? I'm sure **she's** getting enough action from **somewhere**._ Sirius's expression suddenly became very haughty as he crossed his arms over his chest and stared back at Nora with defiant arrogance. Nora opened her mouth slightly like she was going to say something, but she didn't. Her face went from looking disgusted to looking disappointed, and Sirius thought he could sense a bit of hurt in her eyes. She just shook her head slightly and walked through the portrait hole.

Sirius felt that same sinking sensation drop down in his stomach. _Oh, shit. Now I **really** feel like a jackass._

Dana let out a giggle and said, "Did you see her face? It was as if she's never seen anyone kiss before! I guess her and Remus don't get around to doing much, do they? I wouldn't blame him though…she _is _a bit of a weirdo."

"Hey!" Sirius said disapprovingly. "She's not a weirdo."

"Oh. Well _excuse_ me." Dana said sarcastically. "I didn't know that you cared so much about her."

"Well, she _is_ my friend…sort of." Sirius said, starting to feel a little irritated.

"Really. It didn't seem like you two were on very friendly terms just now." Dana said a little heatedly.

"It's just…never mind." Sirius said exasperatedly. "Let's just get out of here." He led Dana away from Gryffindor Tower. Although she was started to get on his nerves, there was no way that Sirius was going to go into the Gryffindor common room right then. He knew that he had just behaved very rudely to Nora and felt ashamed of himself. _I can't face her just yet. I'd rather wait it out with Dana for a while and go later when I know she's not there._

* * *

Nora walked into the common room briskly. She could feel her eyes starting to sting and she wanted to get up to her dorm as fast as she could. 

She saw Peter playing a game of exploding snap by himself exclaiming, "Yes! I win again!" as she passed by the couches near the fireplace. If it weren't for the fact that she was hurting so badly, she would've found that scene very comical. _Oh my God._ She thought miserably as she made her way up to the stairs to her dorm. _This cannot be happening to me._ _I feel like such a fool! I finally realize that I'm in love with the guy, and he goes off and starts snogging the biggest skank in the school, and then on top of that, he looks at me like I'm some worthless piece of nothing that just got into his way. And the worst part is that Dana saw how he was looking at me. How can you treat people you claim to be your friends like that? If it was James or Remus or even Lily that caught him and looked at him a little disgustedly, he would've just laughed. So how could he have looked at me like that? What kind of a jerk does that? I feel like an idiot. How could I have thought that I could actually be in love with such an arrogant bastard?_ Nora was in her dormitory now and could feel the tears streaming down her face. She didn't bother changing her clothes. She just climbed into her bed and pulled the covers over her completely. _Forget that I was even thinking about being in love with him…I don't even think I could consider him a friend anymore._

* * *

Nora would've liked nothing more than to stay in bed the whole day, but she didn't want to give Sirius the satisfaction of him thinking that maybe she was _that_ upset at him. _Screw that._ She thought to herself bitterly as she got ready to go down for breakfast. _I have my dignity. I'm just going to act like I don't give a shit._

_

* * *

_

_Shit! What do I do? What should I say to her? She's going to be mad at me. I know it. I could see it in her eyes last night when she walked away._ Sirius thought anxiously as he paced around the boys' dormitory room, trying to figure out what to do. He waited about an hour after he left Dana before attempting to enter the common room again the night before, too scared that she would have still been in there. He was relieved to not find her there and headed straight up to the dorm. He couldn't sleep the whole night; he felt too guilty about how he behaved with Nora. He woke up late the next morning and decided that he would just go down to breakfast and apologize to her later when nobody else was around. When he made it to the Great Hall, he saw that everyone was already seated together at a table. Nora was sitting next to James and Lily, and across from her were Remus and Peter. Sirius looked apprehensively in Nora's direction and saw her smiling and talking to Lily.

_Hmm…maybe she's not as mad as I thought_, Sirius thought to himself as he sat down next to Peter. He spotted a basket of fresh chocolate chip muffins and groaned internally when he realized they were out of his reach, and right next to Nora.

"Hey, Moony, can you pass me a muffin?" Sirius asked Remus.

"Sure." Remus said lazily. He yawned, scratched his head and said, "Nora, pass Sirius a muffin." Without seeming to think twice or look in his direction, Nora grabbed a muffin from the basket and chucked in Sirius's direction. It bounced off his head and landed on his plate. _Never mind_. Sirius thought grimly as he stared at the muffin on his plate. _She's mad. _

Sirius piled some more food onto his plate until he realized that he was really thirsty. The juice jug, unfortunately, was also right next to Nora. Sirius tapped Peter on the arm and said, "Yo, Pete, pass me the juice."

"Oh." Peter said looking in the direction of the juice. "Hey, Nora pass Sirius the—"

"No!" Sirius interrupted him. "I'll get it myself." He got up from his seat and walked behind Remus. He was about to take the jug when Nora suddenly grabbed it and started to pour juice into her glass…very slowly. Sirius stood there waiting for her to finish filling up her glass. Once it was full, Nora, still holding on to the jug, and pretending to be completely oblivious to his presence, drank the juice that was in her glass, and then started to refill it again. Sirius let out an impatient breath. _So is this how it's going to be then…_. Nora finally finished filling her glass and put down the jug. Sirius grabbed the jug aggressively and stormed back to his seat. _I don't think I'm ready to apologize just yet._

Nora stole a look in Sirius's direction. His brows were furrowed and he kept his gaze down on his plate.

"Jackass." Nora muttered with a scowl under breath.

* * *

Later that afternoon, Nora grudgingly made her way down to the Quidditch pitch for practice. She knew that Sirius was going to be there and it just made her mood for the sport turn sour. When she arrived at the pitch, she saw that James and Remus were already there. James mounted his broomstick and made his way to the centre. Remus took his usual spot on the bleachers and Nora walked up to him. 

"Hey, Lupin," Nora started to say as she sat down on the bleachers, "so apparently, there's this rumor going around that we're dating."

"What?" Remus started to laugh. "Oh, damn. It's probably because of yesterday."

"I know." Nora said with a grin. "I think Shelby and Michelle started something up."

"Wouldn't be surprised." Remus said with a wry smile.

"Oh well, I don't care." Nora said with a shrug and she got up to join James on the pitch. The rest of the team arrived, except Sirius, and James started practice. Nora was flying around warming up her broom when she saw Sirius strolling towards them, with Dana at his side.

"Oh, God." Nora said out loud to herself. "What the heck is _she_ doing here?"

Sirius mounted his broom and flew onto the pitch while Dana took a seat on the bleachers. Nora saw Dana look in her direction and could have sworn she saw her scowl at her. Nora could feel her blood start to boil again.

"Hey!" Nora flew up to Sirius and asked him heatedly. "Why do we have extra spectators here?"

"What do you mean?" Sirius asked, looking down at the bleachers. "Oh. Well what is Remus doing here then?"

"Uh…why would you compare her to Remus?" Nora said, glaring at Sirius like he was completely mad. "Remus comes to almost all of our practices. He's in Gryffindor…and not to mention one of your best friends."

"So what's your point?" Sirius asked her, started to feel riled up as well.

"My point is that Dana is in Hufflepuff." Nora said simply.

"Hey!" Sirius shouted defensively, "Ernie used to come here and watch us practice all the time and _he_ was in Hufflepuff too!"

"But Bert always used to support our team. Even against Hufflepuff." Nora retorted.

"So what? We're playing against Slytherin next game anyways. So who cares?" said Sirius.

"I care, okay? I'm not going to stay here if she is." Nora sat hovering on her broomstick with her arms crossed over her chest. She knew that her argument wasn't really making much sense, but she was too mad to care.

James, who saw both of his teammates hovering on the broomsticks and glaring daggers at each other, flew over in between them. "Okay, guys. What's the problem here? You're holding up the whole practice."

"It's not me." Sirius said to James. "Four-eyes here has a problem with certain spectators."

"No I don't." Nora snapped at him. "Forget it, I don't care anymore. Let's just play." She flew back into her position, still fuming with anger. She could tell that Sirius was just as angry. Every time she looked in his direction, she saw him glowering at her. It wasn't long afterwards that Nora had to watch her head for Bludgers that kept coming in her direction. After she dodged about the tenth one, she could hear Dana laughing hysterically at her. Nora looked in Sirius's direction and saw he had that same smug look on his face and she could feel her face turn hot with rage.

James was flying very close to her when Nora yelled, "That's it! I swear I'm going to beat the shit out of him!" She started to fly towards Sirius when James came next to her and grabbed her arm.

"Whoa, hold on, Nora!" James said as Nora tried to wriggle free from his grip.

"He keeps aiming those goddamn Bludgers at my bloody head!" Nora yelped as Sirius came up to them.

"What?" Sirius said heatedly. "You never cared before when I used to do it. What's your problem now?"

"My problem," Nora spat, with tears starting to sting her eyes and James still keeping a hold on her, "is that you are an asshole!"

Sirius stared at her for a second, knowing what this was really about, and felt a tinge of guilt start to form inside him. "Look," Sirius started to say in a calmer voice, but Nora interrupted him.

"No, I don't want to listen to anything right now." She sounded tired and fed up. She turned to James, who had by then let go of her arm, and said quietly, "I'm not feeling so good. I don't think I can practice anymore." She flew down to the ground and started to walk away from the pitch slowly. James gave Sirius a questioning look but had to continue with his practice session before the other players all became too restless.

Sirius looked down at the bleachers and saw that Remus was looking in his direction with a slight frown on his face and then got up from his seat and headed towards Nora. _Of course_. Sirius thought grimly. _Good ol' Remus to the rescue_.

"Hey, Nora." Remus called out to her and then jogged to catch up to her. "What was that all about?"

"Nothing." Nora said moodily. "Your friend just happens to be the biggest jackass to have ever walked on this planet, that's all."

"Oh." Remus said and then asked uncertainly, "Because he invited Dana to practice?"

"No." she replied. "He's just not the person I thought he was." Remus didn't really know what to say after that and knowing that she was in a bad mood, didn't want to pry Nora for more information. They walked together in silence all the way to the Gryffindor common room and then Nora went upstairs to the girls' dormitory to shower and get ready for her group meeting.

* * *

When James and Sirius came up to their dorm room after practice was over, they found Remus sitting on his bed reading a book. 

"Hey," Remus looked at Sirius with that same frown on his face that he had on the pitch, "what's up with you and Nora these days?"

"What do you mean?" Sirius asked him, feeling a little alarmed.

"You guys are always arguing with each other. And Nora said you were an asshole." Remus said bluntly.

"Hey, I didn't say anything to her." Sirius said defensively, which, technically was true.

"Well, you must have done _something_ otherwise she wouldn't have called you that." James added.

"I have no idea." Sirius said, starting to feel the guilt rise up in him again.

"Well, whatever is going on between you two, you better fix it before the next game. I don't want you to start something up in the middle of it." James said.

"There's nothing going on between us." Sirius said quickly, afraid of arousing any more suspicions in Remus. He went into the washroom and shut the door, not wanting them to ask him any more questions. While he was in the shower, Sirius kept thinking about Nora. _This is getting out of hand. I think I'm just going to apologize to her. I've just got to get her alone…_

* * *

Nora made her way down to the library to meet Anthony and Lanie later that evening, and as usual, Anthony was already there waiting, and Lanie was nowhere in sight. 

"Hey, Anthony." Nora said with a sigh as she plopped down onto a chair.

"Something wrong?" Anthony asked her, sensing she wasn't in a great mood.

"Just tired." Nora said, rubbing her eyes.

"Oh." Anthony said, moving his chair a little closer to hers. "Well, I don't think we should take very long on this assignment."

"Yeah, it's pretty simple." Nora said, resting her head on the table. "We should be done soon. That is, if Lanie ever gets here." Nora closed her eyes but all she could see was Sirius's stupid face. She opened them and saw Anthony was looking at her with a dazed expression.

"Are you wearing perfume?" he asked her in a quiet voice.

"Um…" Nora said, lifting her head and feeling a little uncomfortable. "Yes."

"Oh. It smells really nice." He said with a smile. Nora didn't know what to say. She just forced a small smile back to him. _Hmm…interesting_. She thought to herself. _Well, he's a nice guy…kinda cute too._

A few minutes later Lanie came into the library, as usual bursting to tell them the latest gossip. Once her tirade of who was caught snogging with who was over, they got to work on their assignment. When they were done and heading out of the library, Lanie, who had found another gossip colleague, left Anthony and Nora alone.

Nora could sense that Anthony was a little fidgety and he started to talk to her a little nervously as they walked through a corridor.

"So…" he said. "Are you going to be busy this coming weekend at all?"

"Um…" Nora thought for a moment. "Isn't it a Hogsmeade weekend?"

"Yeah." he said. "Are you going to be doing anything…in particular…that day?"

"Oh." Nora said, comprehending where the conversation was leading to. "Well, not really. I haven't planned anything yet."

"Well," he cleared his throat, "If you're not busy, maybe we could—"

"Hey!" a voice from the other side of the corridor interrupted Anthony. Nora recognized it as Sirius's. _What the hell does he want? _Nora thought, her face starting to feel heated with anger again.

Sirius ran up to Nora and said, "I need to talk to you." He glanced at Anthony, barely giving him any recognition.

"Well, I don't feel like talking to you." Nora said and started to walk away.

"No, wait!" Sirius said, grabbing her arm. "Can you please just listen to me for one second?"

Nora felt her fists tighten up and she left out a frustrated breath. "Fine." she said shortly. Sirius looked over at Anthony who was just looking at them a little puzzled.

"Er…" Anthony said to Nora, realizing that Sirius wanted some privacy, "I guess I'll just see you tomorrow." Nora looked at him apologetically and he gave her a small smile and walked away.

Nora turned back to Sirius. "So what is it?" she asked dryly.

"Look," he started to say, "I just wanted to—"

"Sirius!" came a shrill whine from behind Nora.

"Oh shit." Sirius muttered under his breath. Nora shut her eyes for a second and clenched her jaw. The sound of Dana's voice to her was worse than nails on a chalkboard.

"One second's over. Bye." Nora said to Sirius in a low voice and marched away.

Sirius ran his fingers through his hair in frustration as Dana came bounding towards him. _God,_ he thought, _When am I ever going to get a chance to be with her alone? And Dana's starting to freak me out…she's like a bloody stalker! I've got to figure out a way to talk to Four-eyes…before I go completely mad._

* * *

A/N: Ooh, the tension is starting to rise! Okay so I changed the beginning of this chapter quite a bit...I think it flows a lot better now and I put a little more insight into it. I hope you guys liked it! I should be posting the next chapter soon. Send me some reviews and I'll post it sooner. haha! Ooh, by the way, I'm still not getting my messages in time so forgive me for replying to you guys so late. Anyhoos, have a great weekend and send me those reviews! 


	19. Chapter 19

Disclaimer: Anything relating to the Harry Potter stories belongs to J. K. Rowling. She can have my characters and ideas as well. 

CHAPTER 19

"Hey." Anthony said with a grin, flying over to Nora, with his spiky black hair brushed back from the wind. "See the Snitch anywhere?"

"If I did, you think I'd tell you?" Nora said with a smirk. It was the day of the Quidditch match against Ravenclaw, and the score was tied, leaving the game to be decided by Nora or Anthony once one of them caught the Snitch. They had been flying around for a while, but neither of them had seen any sign of it.

"So," Anthony started to say, hovering close to Nora, "are you still free on Saturday?"

"Um…" Nora said, peering across the pitch, still keeping an eye out for the Snitch, "Yeah, I think so."

"Really?" he asked hopefully. "So do you wanna maybe hang out with me at Hogsmeade?"

Nora looked at Anthony and saw how earnestly he was looking at her. After working with him for the past few days, Nora came to find that Anthony was a very intelligent, sensible, and caring person. He didn't hesitate to make it obvious that he liked her, and Nora didn't really seem to mind the attention, or the fact that she thought he was quite good-looking. She knew she would feel bad rejecting him so she said with a smile, "Yeah, sure. Why not?"

On the other side of the pitch, Sirius had just smacked a Bludger with his bat and looked across it. He saw Nora and Anthony both hovering together, talking amicably. _What the hell is she doing fraternizing with the enemy?_ He hit another Bludger and moved a little closer to them. _What the…? Why that floozy! She's actually** flirting** with him! In front of everyone! What's Remus going to think? Holy shit. Chang just checked her out! Is he getting sweet on her too? _Sirius could feel himself get hot with jealousy and he didn't hesitate to aim a Bludger right at Anthony's head.

"Watch out!" Nora yelled to Anthony as she saw it coming straight at him. Anthony quickly ducked down and flew out of the way.

"Oi!" Sirius came flying over to Nora. "What do you think you're doing?"

"Nothing." Nora replied with a bit of attitude. Sirius still hadn't apologized to Nora, and she was, naturally, still upset with him. They had been so swamped with school work and Quidditch practices the whole week, that Sirius couldn't find a free moment to find Nora alone. He tried to talk to her whenever he could, but until he actually told her he was sorry, Nora decided she would only talk to him if necessary and avoid him as much as possible.

"Really. It didn't look like nothing from where I was." Sirius retorted.

"Oh shut up, Sirius." Nora snapped at him. "You're one to talk." Sirius looked like he was about to say something back to her, but at that moment Nora saw what she had been looking for the whole game, fluttering right behind his head. She quickly flew past Sirius, shoving him over to the side.

"Whoa!" Sirius exclaimed, almost falling off of his broomstick. He climbed back on it just in time to see Nora grab a firm hold of the Golden Snitch.

Anthony flew up next to her and Nora looked at him triumphantly, holding the fluttering ball in her hand and said, "Tough luck, Chang. Maybe next time."

Anthony smiled at her and said quietly, "As long as we're still on for Saturday, I really don't care."

* * *

When she walked into the common room later that night, Nora lazily laid herself down onto a comfortable couch near the fireplace. She had just finished her Prefect rounds with Remus, and was thoroughly pooped. 

"Not going to sleep?" Remus asked her as he headed up the stairs to the boys' dormitory.

"I'm too tired to go up the stairs right now. I'll go in five minutes." Nora mumbled. She was tired from all the school work, Quidditch practices, and Prefect duties, but what made her tired the most, was Sirius. Nora felt like it was taking more energy than she'd like to argue with him all the time. She was really starting to get fed up. _I just wish he'd apologize to me already. What is he waiting for?_ Nora thought as she stared at the flames in the fireplace until she felt her eyelids start to droop…

When Sirius had finally managed to get away from Dana, he headed towards Gryffindor Tower. He had borrowed an Invisibility Cloak from James so that he could sneak around the castle without her seeing him. Unfortunately for him though, he had taken it off for only five minutes to talk to someone when she spotted him down the hall. She led him to a deserted classroom and didn't let him leave her sight until he had finally had enough and made up some lie to get away from her.

_Man, that girl is driving me insane_. He thought as he climbed through the portrait hole, wearing the Cloak. _I don't think I can take much more of her. She's a bloody leech! And a damn horny one too! I'm so tired. I think I'm just gonna head up to—wait a sec._ Sirius stopped walking and looked at a curly head of hair spilling over the arm of the couch near the fireplace. _Is that Four-eyes? Alone?_ He looked around the common room making sure nobody else was there. He took off the Cloak and walked towards her thinking, _Finally! I can go and talk to her and apologi—oh crap._ Sirius looked down disappointingly at a completely unconscious Nora. He waved his hand in front of her face to see if she was really sleeping, but when she didn't stir, he just stood there staring at her. Her hair was away from her face, revealing the smooth skin on her neck and jaw line. Her eyes fluttered every now and then, as if she was dreaming. _She looks so peaceful. I wouldn't want to wake her up. I wonder how deep of a sleep she's in…_

Sirius took a swift look around the room again and leaned in very close to Nora and whispered, "Are you asleep, Four-eyes?"

Nora's eyebrows furrowed a little, as if she heard something. He quickly moved back, thinking she would wake up. When she didn't, Sirius moved towards her slowly.

"Hey." he whispered to her again, taking another look around the room just to be sure. "Did you know that you look really pretty when you're asleep?" Her eyebrow twitched again but Sirius didn't move away this time. He didn't take his eyes off of her; Sirius didn't lie when he said she looked really pretty. He thought she looked beautiful. He looked at her with a slight frown and said, "You don't hate me, do you?"

"Hmm?" Nora suddenly said moving her face over to the side. Sirius stepped back cautiously, but her eyes were still closed. A couple of her curls fell down onto her sleeping face and Sirius had the urge to touch them. He very slowly reached his hand out and pushed the strands away from her face gently towards the rest of her hair. Sirius, with his heart hammering so hard he was sure Nora would be able to hear it, lightly ran his fingers over her hair. It was very soft and he could feel something stir inside him that made him want her so badly. Just touching her hair turned him on so much more than anything Dana would ever dream of doing to him.

Sirius wanted to kiss her. He didn't care if she woke up. He felt like he just had to do it or he'd go insane. _Who's going to know anyways? She's asleep. And even if she wakes up, she won't know what happened. _He leaned in close to her cheek and he could hear her breathe. All he had to do was move a couple of centimeters for his lips to touch her face…

But he didn't get a chance to. Sirius heard voices coming through the portrait hole so he swiftly threw the Invisibility Cloak over himself and stepped away from Nora. The voices were getting louder. _Oh that sounds like—_

"James!" Lily giggled. "Stop that!"

"What?" James said in what he probably thought was a very sultry voice. "There's nobody here…" _Oh dear God_. Sirius thought to himself as James and Lily came into view. _I think I'm going to be scarred for life._

"I know but…oh!" Lily exclaimed. James's arm was around her waist and she quickly pushed it down and said softly, pointing to Nora, "See, there_ is_ someone there."

"Oh, it's just Nora." James said. "And she's asleep."

"Is she?" Lily asked in a whisper as they walked up to her very quietly. "Should I wake her up? Maybe she'd want to go upstairs." _No! Don't wake her up!_ Sirius wanted to yell. _**You**_ _can go upstairs_.

"I dunno…she looks pretty comfortable." James said. _Yes she is_. Sirius thought, nodding his head. _Very comfy. Now leave her alone._

"But maybe she…she….ha…" Lily was trying to say, but her face kept shrivelling up for some reason. James gave her a questioning look and she said to him fanning her face, "I think I'm gonna sn….snee…sn_ACHOO_!"

"What!" Nora exclaimed, suddenly sitting up from the couch. She looked up to James and Lily and asked, "What was that?" _Ah nuts_. Sirius bent his head down in disappointment.

"Oh sorry!" Lily said sniffling a little. "I just sneezed. I didn't mean to wake you up."

"What time is it?" Nora asked, stretching her neck out and then leaning back into the couch.

"After one." James replied.

"Oh." Nora said and her eyelids started to droop down again and then asked in a sleepy voice, "Is Sirius here?" _What?_ Sirius shot his head back up.

"Sirius?" James said looking around the room. "No…he's not."

"Hm." Nora mumbled with her eyes closed. "I thought he was here. Must've been dreaming." _Oh,_ Sirius thought with a smile. _She must've heard me…_

"Well, maybe you should come upstairs and dream about him." Lily said and exchanged a smirk with James. _No! Stay down **here** and dream about me_. Sirius was really starting to get annoyed with Lily.

"Mhm." Nora said, completely oblivious to what Lily was implying. She reached her arm out and said, "Pull me up." And, to Sirius's great displeasure, he watched James pull Nora up from the couch and then Lily lead her up the stairs to the girls' dormitory. As soon as they were all gone, Sirius pulled of the Cloak and swore out loud.

"I'm going to get those two love-sick monkeys back for this someday." he grumbled to himself as he trudged his way up to bed.

* * *

"Okay students, settle down please." The Muggle Studies professor said loudly over their chattering voices. "Now, I have an announcement before we start our lesson." The talking died down and everyone paid attention to what she was about to say. Nora, who was doodling on her parchment, put her quill down and listened attentively. "I am nearly finished evaluating all of your egg babies. So, by next week, you should get the results. So far, they have been quite good. I'm very impressed." Some of the students looked at their former partners with a smile. "Now, a lot of you have come up to me asking if the eggs will be returned. I understand that some of you may have grown attached to them so I've decided that, if you would like, when I return the evaluations, you may keep your egg." 

Nora felt a tinge of excitement and turned around to look back at Sirius, but then remembering that she was still upset with him, quickly faced the front again. Mentioning the egg babies made her remember how things used to be. _Shoot_. Nora thought sadly. _Sirius was like a completely different person back then. Sometimes I wish I could just go back in time_…

When Sirius saw Nora turn around, for a happy fleeting moment, he thought everything was back to normal. But then he saw her facial expression suddenly change as if she remembered something and quickly turned back around and his heart sank back down. Just thinking about Yolk made him realize how much he really missed even being Nora's friend. _That's it_. He thought resolutely. _After class, I'm just going to apologize to her. I hate this. And I don't care if anyone else is around. I'm doing it._

When class was finally dismissed and the students started filing out of the classroom, Nora, who was sitting more to the front of the classroom, was already out the door before Sirius could even get out of his seat. By the time he got out, he looked down the corridor, trying to spot her, and saw her curly head bouncing up ahead.

"Hey, Four-eyes!" he called out to her. Nora stopped walking when she heard him. "Wait up a second."

She stood by the wall and waited for him to catch up to her. When he finally reached she looked at him uncertainly and asked, "Yeah?"

"I've been trying to get a chance to talk to you the whole week." said Sirius.

"Have you." Nora said a little dryly, but inside she was feeling a little hopeful. Ever since she woke up that morning, she had been feeling a little strange. It was almost as if she wasn't so mad at Sirius anymore. She was just waiting for him to apologize so that they could finally be friends again. She could have easily just pretended that everything was okay, but she had her dignity to think of. _He has to apologize_. Nora thought to herself. _He can't just hurt people and think he can get away with it whenever he wants to. _

"Yes, I have. Listen I just wanted…." Sirius was saying before he realized that there were too many students rushing through the corridor to get to the Great Hall for dinner. "Wait, come here." He motioned her to follow him until they got to a less crowded hallway.

"Okay." Sirius said to Nora. "I know why you hate me, and I—"

"I don't _hate_ you, Sirius." Nora interrupted him quickly and Sirius felt a bit of relief spread through him. "I'm just upset at you." _Definitely don't hate you. Shoot, I think I'm still in love with you, you stupid idiot._

"I know." he sighed. "And I'm sorry. I've been a real jerk."

"Yes, you have." Nora agreed with him and added, "And a big jackass." _Finally!_ She said to herself. _God, I feel like a load has been taken off my back. _

"Yeah it's just…I dunno why I've been like this. I can't explain it." Sirius said hesitantly.

"Well, you can try…" Nora said looking at him expectantly.

"It's…complicated." Sirius said cautiously.

Nora looked at him a little curiously and was about to ask him what he meant by 'complicated' when she heard a voice from across the hall: a very annoying voice.

"There you are!" Dana exclaimed from afar and Nora saw Sirius's face cringe in irritation. "I've been looking everywhere for you!"

"Oh for God's sake." Sirius rolled his eyes to the ceiling in frustration and then muttered pleadingly to Nora, "She's going to drive me up the bloody wall! Four-eyes, you gotta help me out here."

Nora was a little surprised to realize that Sirius wasn't as serious about Dana as she thought he was, and would have gladly helped him get rid of her. But, thinking it better to let him suffer just a little bit longer said with an evil grin, "Ha! Too bad, Black. You dug your own grave on this one."

Sirius gave Nora a slight scowl and looked over in Dana's direction, who was bustling over towards him. He eyed Nora for a second, and then looked back at Dana, and a thought seemed to cross his mind. _Should I?_ He asked himself. _Nobody else is here..._

Nora saw his expression turn a little mischievous and she looked at him gravely and said, "Sirius, what are you—", but before she could finish her sentence, Sirius suddenly grabbed Nora by the waist and pulled her into a kiss. Nora stood there, her body completely rigid, not knowing what to do, as she heard a gasp come out of Dana. Sirius heard it too and could have let go of Nora, but he didn't. He had been dying to kiss her for so long, and if this was the only chance he was going to get, he wanted to make it last as long as he could. He could feel the familiar shiver from her touch run through him again but this time it was so much more intense. He wondered, or hoped, that she was feeling it too. After the initial shock wore off, Nora became more conscious of the fact that his lips were being pressed against hers and it made her feel weak in the knees. And then she realized that they weren't alone. It wasn't until Sirius felt Nora's hands on his chest to push him back that he let go of her. She seemed completely stunned. Sirius looked up for a moment towards Dana and suddenly felt like sinking into the ground. Standing right next to her was Remus, who looked just as shocked as Dana.

"Oh shit." Sirius said hoarsely. He looked away from his friend, who also, unbeknownst to Sirius, quickly averted his attention to something else. Nora was still staring at him with wide eyes and he stuttered incoherently to the floor, "I'm sorry…I didn't mean to….bye." And he ran away.

* * *

A/N: hehehehe...nice ending to this chapter, eh? That's one thing I didn't change. haha! I did add a bit to it though...I think it makes a bit more sense now. Hope you guys liked it! Tell me what you thought of it! 


	20. Chapter 20

Disclaimer: Anything relating to the Harry Potter stories belongs to J. K. Rowling. She can have my characters and ideas as well.

CHAPTER 20

Nora watched Sirius as he ran off, her mouth slightly open and her eyes wide in surprise. She turned towards Dana and Remus only to see that they were both now looking at her. Dana seemed to be over her shock and now looked absolutely murderous. Remus, on the other hand, looked like he was trying not to laugh.

Nora looked at both of them with bewilderment. Dana's eye twitched and her mouth formed a thin line. Her eyes narrowed down onto Nora and she turned on her heel and stormed away wordlessly.

Nora turned her attention to Remus again and looked at him expectantly, hoping to get an explanation for his friend's behavior.

"Hey," Remus said with his hands up in defeat, "don't look at me, I'm just as surprised as you are."

"Did you just see what he did?" Nora asked him, her face still looking baffled

"I dunno." Remus said. "I just walked through here on my way to dinner and I saw you guys kissing and Dana gaping at you. And then Sirius looked scared and ran away."

"Wait a sec. We weren't kissing. _He_ kissed _me_. And he only did it because Dana was there and he wanted to get rid of her. But then…I dunno." Nora's face started to feel warm now that she was thinking about what had just happened.

Remus could sense Nora's discomfort and tried to lighten the situation. "Well, I don't know what was going through his head, but this 'kiss-and-run' syndrome seems to be becoming more common these days."

"Yeah." Nora said, looking deep in a thought. She bit her lip nervously and asked, "Do you think Dana went off and told the entire school what just happened?"

"Er…I'm not sure." said Remus, although Nora knew that he was pretty sure she would.

"Great." Nora said sarcastically. "I have a bloody date with Anthony tomorrow. What if he finds out?"

"You have a date with Chang?" Remus asked curiously.

"Yeah." Nora replied.

"Does Sirius know?" he asked her.

"Uh…I don't think so. I mean, we just started talking again like five minutes ago before he decided to kiss me." Nora said, starting to feel a little frustrated. _Gees. Why did he run away like that? I know he's going to be all weird and stuff. Great. Just when we were finally friends again. Good one, Black. Good one._ Nora shook her head to herself.

"So…are you coming to dinner?" Remus asked her.

"Yeah right." Nora said, rolling her eyes. "Dana probably made an announcement to the whole hall about what just happened. No way am I going in there."

* * *

"Holy shit, what did I do?" Sirius said to himself when he finally stopped running. He took a deep breath and ran his hands through his hair in aggravation._ What was I thinking? I must've been completely off my rocker to even think about doing such a thing. How am I ever going to face Remus again? How could I do that to him? I have got to be the most selfish bastard in the entire world! _He leaned against a corridor wall and tried to think of what he should do. _Where do I go? I can't go back to the common room. Remus will be there eventually, and he might want to beat the shit out of me. Good thing it's not the full moon tonight. God, I am such an ass. I'll just have to hide out in the castle tonight…or maybe I'll just sneak my way to Hogsmeade…_

* * *

Nora was in her dorm, trying to read a book later on that night. She was on the same page for the last half an hour; she couldn't focus on what she was reading. She kept thinking about Sirius and the kiss. She was dying to know where he was and what he was thinking. She knew that he had only kissed her to get rid of Dana, but something inside her was hoping that maybe it meant something more. _It wasn't a short kiss, and he was holding me pretty damn close. I don't know…I'm really confused_. She was thinking to herself just as Lily walked into the dormitory room. 

"Hey, Nora." she said, "Why didn't you come to dinner?"

"I wasn't hungry." Nora lied, putting her book away. She cleared her throat to hide the sound of hunger growls coming from her stomach.

"Oh." Lily said with a slight frown but then sat down next to Nora and said in a hushed voice, "So listen, I heard some interesting news about you today."

"Great." Nora said dryly, rolling her eyes. "She told everyone after all, eh?"

"Who?" Lily asked.

"Dana." Nora replied.

"Dana? No it wasn't Dana. Remus told me." Lily corrected her.

"Remus?" Nora asked with surprise. "Why that traitor!"

"Was it supposed to be a secret?" asked Lily with a little confusion.

"Well, I thought he knew that I didn't want anyone to know what happened." Nora replied, feeling a little angry.

"But what's the big deal?" Lily asked. "It's just—"

"A kiss, I know." Nora said, finishing Lily's sentence for her. "But still. It was weird."

"You kissed him _already_?" Lily asked with wide eyes.

"_I_ didn't kiss him! He kissed _me_!" Nora said defensively. "And it was only 'cause he wanted to get rid of Dana. It's not like he would've done it otherwise."

"You mean Dana has a thing for Chang too?" Lily asked, now looking thoroughly perplexed.

"Chang?" Nora asked. Now _she_ was confused. "What do you mean?"

"You just said that Anthony kissed you…" Lily said.

"Anthony? What the hell are you talking about?" Nora asked then said, "Wait…what exactly did Remus tell you?"

"He said that you had a date with Anthony tomorrow at Hogsmeade." replied Lily.

"Oh my gosh." Nora said, feeling like an idiot. "Is that what he said? Okay. I thought you were talking about something else."

"Hold on…so who were _you_ talking about?" Lily asked Nora with curiosity. "Who kissed you today?"

"Ah, nuts." Nora said smacking her head in frustration. "I was trying not to tell anyone about this. Okay, I'll tell you, but don't tell anyone."

"Of course not." Lily said assuredly, and Nora started to tell her what Sirius had done that evening.

"And he ran away?" Lily asked with wide eyes again after Nora had finished talking.

"Yeah." Nora replied.

"That's just…odd." Lily said, looking like she was deep in thought.

"I know." Nora agreed with her. "I dunno what to make out of it. First of all, I can't believe he actually had the audacity to use me like that to get rid of Dana. And then, I really don't get why he ran." Lily looked at Nora like she might have had some clue as to what was going on, but seeing Michelle and Shelby suddenly walk into the room, decided against telling her what was on her mind. Nora and Lily quickly changed the subject and started to get ready for bed.

* * *

The next afternoon, Nora found herself strolling on the streets of Hogsmeade Village with Anthony at her side, but Sirius on her mind. She didn't see him the night before or that morning. She was dreading the awkwardness that she knew would be awaiting them when they did eventually meet. She especially didn't want to bump into him with Anthony around her. _That will just make everything so much more awkward. And I don't really want Anthony to know what happened. _She contemplated to herself. _It's not like there's anything serious going on between Anthony and me, but if anything does develop, it would just be weird. And plus, I think I'm a little ticked off at Sirius for using me like that to get rid of Dana!_

"So do you want to go do Madam Puddifoot's?"

"What? Oh." Nora had been so engrossed in her thoughts about Sirius that she had almost forgotten that she was walking with Anthony. "Um…well, why don't we just go to the Three Broomsticks instead?" Nora asked him. There was no way that Nora would go to Madam Puddifoot's. She and Bert used to make fun of all the couples that used to meet in the teashop and would never be able to face Bert again if he found out that she went on date there as well. Besides, she knew that more people would be hanging out at the Three Broomsticks, and really didn't mind bumping into anyone else; Nora was starting to feel a little bored with Anthony; or perhaps her mind was too preoccupied with Sirius to appreciate his company. When they entered, they ordered two butterbeers and took one of the last few empty tables in the crowded room. Students around them were all chatting and laughing loudly and it wasn't long until a familiar face popped up in front of them.

"Hey, what are you two doing here?" It was Lanie and her big blue eyes were shining with excitement as usual.

"Having a butterbeer." Anthony replied a little dryly, as if he was annoyed that she had interrupted their nonexistent conversation.

"Together?" she asked eyeing them both suggestively.

"No, alone." Anthony said, rolling his eyes slightly.

Lanie seemed oblivious to Anthony's irritation at her presence and she turned her attention to Nora. She pulled a chair over and sat close to her and said with gleaming eyes, "So guess what? I talked to Dana today."

"Oh?" Nora asked casually. _Shit! I knew that stupid hussy was going to say something. _

"Yes." Lanie said, leaning a little closer to Nora. "Apparently she broke up with Sirius."

"Broke up?" Nora asked her. "What, were they actually seriously dating or something?"

"Um…yeah." Lanie said, "Well at least _she _thought so."

"Why did she break up with him?" Anthony asked, getting into the conversation. Nora felt herself tense up, afraid to hear what Lanie was going to say.

Lanie shrugged, "She just said that he wasn't her type. Too big of a flirt or something. Oh and she said he's actually a terrible kisser."

"What?" Nora exclaimed at the obvious lie, but feeling relieved at the same time that Dana didn't tell anyone what had happened. "He's not a….er….big flirt." Nora said, changing what she was about to say at the last second.

Anthony, who was laughing at Dana calling him a bad kisser, suddenly looked at Nora disbelievingly.

"Well, he's not really." Nora said, feeling a little annoyed at Anthony for laughing at Sirius. "Girls usually pour themselves on him."

"Why are you defending him so much?" Anthony asked her with narrowed eyes.

"Well," Nora said, suddenly feeling pretty stupid. _Why **am **I defending him?_ But now that she started she had to finish, "he _is _my friend. And it's true about the girls going after him."

"Oh look!" Lanie said getting up. "There's Remus Lupin. I'll bet he knows what really happened." She left Anthony and Nora alone and they both continued to drink their beers in silence. Nora wondered if Sirius was at Hogsmeade and if Dana talked to him again. She noticed Anthony eyeing her a few times and it made her feel a little uncomfortable. _Hmm._ She thought as she took a sip of her drink. _I don't think Anthony is my type at all. He might seem like a nice guy and he's pretty good looking, but there's something missing here…_

* * *

Meanwhile, outside near the lake, James and Lily were sitting on the grass together when they saw Sirius walk up to them. 

"Hey!" James called out to him. "Where have you been?"

"Here." Sirius said lying down tiredly onto the grass. He was exhausted. He didn't sleep the whole night. He spent most of the night at the Three Broomsticks pouring his heart out to Madam Rosmerta until her eyes started to droop. She let him stay the rest of the night in the back of the shop, but he barely slept. He headed back out to roam the streets as soon as the sun was out, hoping he could find some way to redeem himself in front of Remus. When he realized there wasn't anything he could buy or do that would make it up to him, he started to sulk around, hoping that it was all just a bad dream.

"Was it that bad that you had to run away?" James asked with a smirk. And Sirius popped his head up to look at him questioningly and James said, "Remus told me what happened last night."

"He did?" Sirius asked, feeling tense.

"Yeah." James said nodding his head and Lily tried to stifle a smile.

"Oh." Sirius said quietly, feeling the guilt and shame of what he did come over him. "Was he really mad?"

"Mad?" James asked looking a little puzzled. "Uh…no, I don't think so. He thought it was kind of funny actually. Especially considering I did the same thing to Lily a few weeks ago."

"What?" Sirius asked, sitting up straight, thinking that maybe he didn't hear James properly. "He thought it was _funny_?"

"Yep." James answered.

Sirius felt thoroughly confused. "So where is he now? With…her?"

"With who?" James asked and then said quickly, "No he's not with Nora. Nora's on a date with Chang. I think Remus is—"

"Hold on." Sirius stopped James, feeling his heart pounding in his chest now. "Did you just say that she's on a date? With _Chang_?"

"Yes…" James said slowly.

"How could Remus let her go on a date with Chang?" Sirius asked in bewilderment.

"Er…" James looked a little uncertain and then asked, "Why wouldn't he?" He exchanged a look with Lily and then she pointed across from them.

"Look there's Remus coming now with Peter." she said. Sirius, who was now dying for some straight answers, got up from the grass and marched up to Remus.

"Oi, Moony!" he called.

"Ah, there you are. Thought you'd be hiding away after what you did yesterday." Remus said with a smile. He shook his head with a grin still on his face and said, "Even I was surprised you actually did that. Poor Nora was so confused."

"Okay just give me a second here." Sirius said as Remus took a swig of a bottle of butterbeer he was holding. "I thought you and Nora were going out together."

Remus, who was still chugging down his butterbeer, suddenly spit out the contents of his mouth.

"WHAT?" he exclaimed, wiping his face with his sleeve. "What the hell are you talking about?"

"You guys aren't together then?" Sirius asked him, suddenly feeling very hopeful.

"Me and Nora?" Remus asked with surprise. "Where the hell would you get in idea like—oh hold on a second." He looked at Sirius with a raised eyebrow. "Don't tell me Dana said anything to you…and you believed her…"

"Er…" Sirius said, now starting to feel like a complete idiot. James, who was listening to their conversation with amusement, came forward to join them.

"What an idiot." Remus said shaking his head in disapproval this time. "First of all, you _know_ that I don't want a girlfriend. Second of all, I know that _you _like her."

"You do?" Sirius asked with astonishment.

"Yeah, it's pretty damn obvious." Remus replied. "Well to me anyways. I don't think Nora really has a clue."

"Yeah." James added into the conversation. "She's just as stupid as you are. You'd be perfect together!"

"But I thought for sure she liked you." Sirius said to Remus, still trying to get over his shock, and his stupidity.

"Uh…not that I know if." Remus said looking at him a little strangely.

"And you knew she was going out with Chang?" Sirius asked him.

"Yeah she told me last night after you ran away." Remus replied.

"Oh shit." Sirius said, smacking his head. "I'm such an ass. What do I do?"

"Go find her." James said matter-of-factly.

"But she's with bloody Chang!" Sirius exclaimed. "What if it's too late? What if he's already swept her off her feet and she's madly in love with him?"

"Don't be thick." James said.

"If he touches her, I'll kill him." Sirius said, now feeling the spread of hot jealousy go through his entire body.

"I just saw them at the Three Broomsticks." Remus said. "Maybe they're still there."

Sirius quickly left his friends and made his way to the pub, but he couldn't see Nora and Anthony anywhere in the crowd of students. He cursed to himself and walked back out, not sure of where to go. He decided to just head back to where his friends were, realizing that it would be a waste of time to actually try to find them with no leads. As he was making his way to the lake, he thought he saw a curly set of dark brown hair next to an old tree. He walked a little closer to her until he could see that it really was Nora, and she looked like she was alone. Sirius felt his heart skip a beat. He was about to call out to her when he saw Chang come out from behind the tree. Sirius stopped walking and watched with horror as Anthony suddenly pinned Nora to the tree and kissed her. Sirius felt his fists clench up and his face burn with a mixture of anger and jealousy. He wanted nothing more than to run up to Chang and hex him into a million pieces. But he didn't. Instead, he took a deep breath, turned around, and stormed away silently towards Hogwarts Castle.

* * *

A/N: Aw, poor Sirius. hehehe. So the story is winding down now I guess. Only two more chapters! They should be up soon. I don't think there's too much to change in these last few chapters. Anyhoos, I hope you guys enjoyed this one...tell me what you thought of it! 


	21. Chapter 21

Disclaimer: Anything relating to the Harry Potter stories belongs to J. K. Rowling. She can have my characters and ideas as well.

CHAPTER 21

"Oh," was all Nora could say when Anthony moved away from her. She cleared her throat quietly and said, "Well, that was...unexpected."

"I like you a lot, Nora." Anthony said and leaned towards her again.

"Wait." Nora said quickly, dodging out of his way. "I don't think we should rush into anything."

"What do you mean?" Anthony asked with a slight frown.

"I mean, that I...it's just…I dunno." Nora said incoherently, feeling very frustrated. "I'm a little confused right now about…something."

"Something?" Anthony asked and then raised his eye skeptically at her, "Or some_one_?"

"Some…one." Nora answered hesitantly.

"Oh." said Anthony quietly. "I see." Nora could tell that he looked a little upset and she started to feel really guilty.

"I'm sorry Anthony." she said earnestly to him. "But I really don't want to lead you on when I'm in this state. It wouldn't be fair to you. I think you're a really nice guy and if it weren't for all this confusion, I would have no hesitations." Anthony didn't say anything. He just looked at the ground, still frowning.

Just as Nora was wishing he'd say something to break the uncomfortable silence, Anthony kicked a pebble that was near his foot and said grimly, "Well, I guess we should just head back to school then."

* * *

"What happened?" James asked. 

"What're you doing in here?" Remus inquired.

"Oi," James said, waving a hand in front of Sirius's face. "Padfoot?" Remus and James had just entered their dormitory after coming back from Hogsmeade later that evening.

"What." Sirius said dourly. He was sitting on his bed with his arms crossed over his chest and a dangerous scowl on his face.

"Er…I take it things didn't go too well then?" James asked cautiously.

"Not really." Sirius replied dryly.

"Why not? What did she say?" asked Remus.

"Nothing." Sirius replied.

"You told her and she said nothing?" James asked confusedly.

"I didn't tell her anything." said Sirius through clenched teeth.

"Oh…so what did you do then?" Remus asked.

"Nothing." Sirius replied again.

"Er…ok_ay_." James said, exchanging puzzled looks with Remus.

Sirius abruptly got up from his bed and headed towards the door. He muttered, "I'm going out," and left, leaving James and Remus to wonder what could have gone wrong.

* * *

Nora walked down to the Great Hall on Monday morning, knowing that there would be no way that she could miss crossing paths with Sirius. She didn't see him even once the day before and felt sure that he was trying to avoid her. As she entered it, she saw him, sitting across James and Remus, facing her direction. She was looking right at him when he looked up towards her. His face was expressionless and Nora started to feel nervous. _Just go sit with them_, she told herself. 

'Hey." She heard a voice next to her say suddenly. She turned to face Anthony, who was standing very close to her. Nora looked up in Sirius's direction again and saw that his attention as back on his food, with his eyebrows creased.

"Hi." Nora said, looking at Anthony again, wondering why he was standing so near to her.

"So…is _he_ here?" he asked her, in a tone that was very un-Anthony-like. His voice was low and it sounded jealous.

"No." Nora lied, feeling very uncomfortable, and started to walk away from him slowly.

"Hold on a second." he said, grabbing a hold of her arm. Nora looked at him with a raised eyebrow and he quickly let go of her and said in a lighter tone, "We still have to meet tonight to finish our project."

"Oh. Yeah that's fine." Nora said distractedly. "We'll do that."

Anthony walked away from Nora and she headed towards the table where Sirius, Remus and James were sitting. Just as she was about to sit down a couple of spaces away from Sirius, he got up abruptly from his seat. James and Remus both looked up at Sirius with surprise.

Sirius muttered, "I'll see you guys later." As he left the table and headed out, Nora could feel her face turn hot. _Oh my God._ She thought to herself, not knowing what to do. _He's totally disgusted by me. Is that why he ran away from me after he kissed me or why he's been avoiding me these past couple of days? Am I that hideous that he doesn't even want to look at me?_

Remus and James exchanged a look, noticing how distraught Nora was looking.

James cleared his throat and said, "Oh, don't worry, Nora. He didn't leave because of you, if that's what you're thinking."

"Yeah," Remus added to the lie. "He was just saying that he had to go before you came here." Nora stared at the boys disbelievingly.

"Please, guys." she said in a sarcastic tone. "I'm not _that _stupid." She felt so upset that she quickly got up from her seat and left the Great Hall. _Holy crap_. Nora was still contemplating to herself, as she made her way to her first class. _Now that I think about it, Sirius looked horrified after he kissed me. That's probably because he realized it was **me** he was kissing. Oh my gosh. What if I'm a terrible kisser? _

Nora was too busy obsessing over what it was that Sirius was so disgusted by her about that she didn't pay any attention to her first two classes. She was already late for her Muggle Studies class, when she knocked into Dana Abbott in the hallway.

"Oh, sorry." Nora said, bending down to pick her book that had fallen to the ground.

"Watch where you're going." Dana replied rudely.

"I said I was sorry." Nora said defensively.

"Well you should be." Dana said, flicking her hair. Nora, who thought it would be best to just ignore Dana, was about to turn around and leave when she heard Dana mutter, "Slut."

"Excuse me?" Nora asked with surprise.

"What?" Dana asked innocently.

"I heard what you just called me." Nora replied heatedly.

Dana narrowed her eyes at Nora, clicked her tongue and said, "So. First Remus, then Sirius, and now Anthony. Three guys in two weeks. You're a real piece of work. Don't tell me you're going to be dating James next week."

"Uh…" Nora looked at Dana like she was crazy. "I never went out with Remus or Sirius. And I only went on one date with Anthony."

"Right." Dana said rolling her eyes. "That's why I caught you snogging Sirius."

"I wasn't snogging him." Nora said in a dangerously low voice. "He kissed me. And he only did it to get rid of _you_." Dana's eye twitched a little at Nora's words. She looked like she wanted nothing more than to hit Nora, but she just let out a huff, flicked her hair again and stormed away.

"Mental." Nora muttered under her breath as she started to walk again.

By then, Nora was very late for class. When she walked into the room, it was already full and the professor was well into the lesson. Nora looked around the room apprehensively, trying to find an empty seat. She saw James wave at her and point to the seat next to him. Sirius was on the other side of James, apparently taking notes very diligently. Nora walked up to the empty seat and sat down, taking her books out.

"What did I miss?" Nora whispered to James.

"Nothing much." he replied and then added, "Oh, the Professor gave back the egg babies."

"She did?" Nora asked with surprise. She peered over to Sirius's table and saw that Sirius had put his quill down and was holding their egg.

"How did we do on the project?" Nora asked James.

"We both got Outstandings, of course." James said with a grin. "Shelby's got Millie right now."

"I wanna see Yolk." Nora said to James, stealing another envious look at her egg baby.

James nudged Sirius and said, "Hey, Nora wants to see Yolk."

Sirius held the egg in his hand, contemplating something for a moment. "Tell her you can't always get what you want in life." he then said in a cold voice, loud enough for Nora to hear. Nora glared at Sirius, wishing she wasn't in class so that she could hex Sirius into the next century.

"Jackass." she muttered to him, still glaring.

"Tart." he muttered back, keeping his eyes on Yolk.

Nora's jaw dropped slightly in surprise and she asked James, "Did he just call me a _tart_?"

"Er…" James said, feeling a little uncomfortable being in the middle of them while they argued.

"Is there a problem back there?" The professor suddenly asked, looking in their direction. James and Nora shook their heads. "Then I'd appreciate it if you'd stop the incessant whispering." Nora sat the rest of the class, in an angry sulk, grinding her teeth and thinking of ways she could get back at Sirius.

The class was finally dismissed and the students were filing out of the class for their lunch break. Nora walked out without saying anything to Sirius and headed to the Great Hall. When she arrived she saw Lily already seated at the table with Remus so she sat with them and a few minutes later, James and Sirius also joined them. Sirius kept the egg out onto the table, with his hand protectively covering it up. Nora knew that he was just keeping Yolk in her view and out of her reach to make her jealous, but she refused to let him think that she cared and ignored him throughout the whole of lunch. When done eating, they all decided to sit outside for a while and mill around. It was an unusually warm March afternoon and almost all of the students were out on the grounds.

Lily, Nora, Remus, James, Peter, and Sirius sat around a big oak tree basking in the warm sun. Sirius, to Nora's annoyance, was still playing around with Yolk.

"Are you ever going to let me see that egg?" she finally asked him exasperatedly.

Sirius, who looked surprised for a moment that Nora was speaking to him, shrugged indifferently and said. "I dunno. Maybe. Maybe not."

"You can't decide who gets to keep it." Nora said, feeling more and more agitated. The wind was blowing Nora's curly hair in all directions, making her look even angrier. "It's not only yours."

"Well I took care of him more than you did." Sirius retorted, looking away from her. The image of Anthony kissing Nora kept popping into his head every time he looked at her and it drove him crazy. "You were a pretty lousy mother." Everyone else around them started to stare at Sirius and Nora in suspense.

"Really?" Nora asked in a raised voice. "And this is coming from the person who lost him in the middle of Hogsmeade?"

"Hey, that wasn't my fault!" he replied, feeling angry himself. "And I found him in the end, didn't I?"

"Yeah!" Nora scoffed. "After he nearly got killed!"

"Oh…shut up, Four-eyes." Sirius said abuptly.

Nora rolled her eyes. Everything Sirius said was starting to irritate her. "When are you going to stop calling me that? I don't wear glasses anymore, if you haven't noticed. And I do have a name. Why don't you ever use it?"

"Why don't _you_ go and…kiss Chang or something." Sirius said, feeling the heat starting to really get to him.

"What?" Nora asked with surprise.

"Yeah." Sirius replied with a bit of attitude. He looked past her and said dryly, "Oh, there he is now."

"Hey, Nora!" It really was Anthony's voice coming from behind her.

Nora turned to face Anthony and could hear Sirius say sarcastically, "Ooh, _he_ called you by your name."

Nora ignored Sirius and asked Anthony what he wanted.

"I was just wondering where we were going to meet tonight." he said, loud enough for everyone to hear.

Sirius scoffed and muttered, "Try the Womping Willow. You guys like trees so damn much."

Anthony looked puzzled for a moment and asked Nora, "What did he say?"

Nora shook her head and rolled her eyes in annoyance, "Ignore him."

"Yeah I'm sure that won't be difficult for you." Nora heard Sirius say.

Anthony looked at Sirius with perplexity and Sirius said to him, "What? Something jerkin' your gherkin?" James, Remus, and Lily all tried to stifle a laugh.

"Er…" Anthony said, not knowing what to think and Nora quickly pulled him away.

"Look, why don't we just do it in the library? We'll get the most stuff done there." Nora said in what she thought was a low voice.

"The library?" she heard Sirius say loudly. "Is that where people are doing it these days?" Nora closed her eyes for a second in frustration, her fists clenching up. Anthony took that as his cue to leave and just as Nora was approaching her friends again, Sirius said to his egg, "Well, Yolkie. We're not very surprised are we? After all, she _is _a tart."

"That's it!" Nora yelled angrily, and started to charge at Sirius.

"Uh oh!" he yelped, getting up from his spot and running away from her.

"Get back here, you jackass! And gimme that damn egg!" Nora pulled her wand out while chasing him and muttered a spell that tripped him to the ground. She bent down and tried to grab Yolk that was still in his hand, but Sirius quickly moved his hand out of her reach. She tried to get up but he ended up putting Yolk in his pocket and pinning her flat onto the ground.

"OW!" Nora yelled as he straddled her down and clasped his hands with hers forcefully. "That hurts, you stupid jerk!"

"Aw, well isn't that just too bad." Sirius said, still holding her down. "Why doesn't your boyfriend come and rescue you?"

"Yeah maybe if I _had_ one, he would." Nora said, struggling to get Sirius off of her. She lifted her knee up and made him lose his balance and fall. He had to let go of Nora's hands to catch himself, so Nora quickly pushed him off and then pinned _him_ to the ground beneath her.

"Oh," Sirius said, a little out of breath but continuing their conversation, "so I suppose I just imagined that I saw you and Chang snogging that day at Hogsmeade."

Nora quickly let go of Sirius's hands. "What are you talking about?"

"What? Don't act all innocent. I saw it." Sirius said, looking at her a little sulkily, and not bothering to try to get Nora off of him.

"You did?" Nora asked him, feeling embarrassed.

"Yeah." he said with a frown. "You could've at least told me you were going out with him."

"It was just one stupid date." Nora said, and Sirius looked at her a little disbelievingly. "And I was going to tell you the day before, but you ran away from me and then disappeared, remember?"

"Yeah." he said, feeling stupid remembering the kiss. Sirius was starting to become more aware of the fact that Nora was right on top of him, and he wanted nothing more than to pull her down towards him, but he just muttered, "Not like you'd ever understand why."

"Well, maybe if you told me, I would." Nora said.

Sirius raised himself up a little, resting on his elbows. Nora could see the sun reflecting in his eyes and wished she had the guts to just kiss him right then. Sirius looked at her and said, "Are you that stupid that I have to spell it out for you?"

"Well," Nora said grimly, her previous thoughts quickly brushed away, "I don't like to make assumptions all the time. Unlike _some_ people."

Sirius looked like he was about to say something when Nora suddenly heard her name coming from across the grass.

"What the—" she said, springing off of Sirius speedily and looking across the grounds, her eyes wide with surprise.

"Nora!" The familiar voice she hadn't heard in months said.

"Oh my God." Nora gasped, clapping her hands over her mouth. Sirius got up to see what was going on. He was wiping the grass off of his school robes as he watched Nora rush away.

"Oh my God!" Nora yelled again and ran to the boy that she had, until then, been only seeing in her dreams. "BERT!"

* * *

A/N: Ooh, Bert's back! hehehehe. Okay guys, one more chapter left! I hope you liked this chapter. These last two chapters were originally supposed to be one but I ended up splitting them into two parts. So the next chapter should be up very soon. Thanks for all the reviews from the last chapters...I appreciate all the feedback. Tell me what you thought of this one! 


	22. Chapter 22

Disclaimer: Anything relating to the Harry Potter stories belongs to J. K. Rowling. She can have my characters and ideas as well.

CHAPTER 22

Nora flung her arms around her best friend and hugged him for what felt like hours.

When she finally let go of Bert and looked at his face to make sure she wasn't dreaming she started to say ramblingly, "When…how? What happened?"

Sirius watched them from a distance, not knowing how to feel. He was frustrated that he was cut off from telling Nora how he felt, but at the same time he was glad to see that Bert was back and apparently in good shape. He was happy for Nora that she got her friend back, but also a little depressed knowing that she would be spending less time with him. _Well, it's not like I was spending any time with her now, anyways_. He thought to himself glumly as he walked right past Nora, unnoticed as she and Bert stood close together talking quietly. He headed back to the castle to go to class, and tried to take his mind off of Nora.

Bert, meanwhile, was enjoying some new attention as he and Nora went to their classes.

Everyone wanted to know what happened to him, but he told them all same thing. "I can't talk about it right now. Dumbledore told me strictly not to say anything." Nora had asked him several times about what had happened and he kept telling her that he'd tell her later, when they were alone. Every time Nora brought it up, he would change the subject, making her tell him about everything he had missed while he was away.

"So where's Sirius? I thought you two would be best friends by now." Bert said, noticing Sirius's absence throughout the day. Nora and Bert were sitting together on a bench in one of the corridors. It was after dinner and most of the students were up in their common rooms. Nora hadn't really forgotten about Sirius; he was on her mind throughout the day, but because Bert had just come back, she didn't want him to feel neglected. She still felt guilty about spending less time with him before his accident. She was dying to tell Bert what had been happening though, so she was was relieved when he brought up the subject himself.

"Well you know, he's been acting a bit strange lately." Nora explained. "After you got hurt, he was great. He was really nice and spent time with me and stuff. But then I dunno what happened. We came to visit you at the hospital during the winter break and I saw Remus there."

"Remus?" Bert questioned, looking concerned.

"Yeah, it's a long story, I'll have to tell you later." Nora brushed him off and continued telling her story, "Anyways, I was really upset and I kind of blew up at him. But then I apologized to him and he seemed okay. I mean he was a little quiet after that but that's it. And then when school started again, he was a totally different person. He would barely talk to me or anything. And that's kinda when I realized that I um…sorta…"

"Oh let me guess." Bert interrupted her. "You liked him?"

"Yeah." Nora said, feeling her cheeks get a little warmer. "But I realized it too late. I found him snogging Dana Abbott and he started to act like a complete jackass."

"I see." Bert said with a slight frown, like he was contemplating something.

"So anyways," Nora went on, "Anthony Chang asked me out on a date and—"

"Chang?" Bert asked with surprise.

"Yeah to Hogsmeade." Nora nodded. "So the day before the Hogsmeade weekend Sirius finally decides to apologize to me for being such a jerk. So I accepted his apology and it seemed like things were finally going back to normal but then out of nowhere, Dana comes popping into the corridor and to get rid of her, Sirius kissed me!"

"He didn't." Bert said with wide eyes.

"He did!" Nora exclaimed. "And it wasn't a short kiss either! It was—"

"Please," Bert said holding his hand up for her to stop. "Spare me the details."

"Okay, sorry." Nora said quickly. "So yeah when he let me go he just suddenly freaked out, started stuttering that he was sorry or something, and ran away. I didn't see him again until _today_, and he was totally pissed off at me…_again_! I knew something weird was going to happen. I told Remus right after Sirius ran away that—"

"Hold on." Bert interrupted her again. "Back up a second. Remus was there when he kissed you?"

"Yeah he must've walked into the corridor." Nora replied matter-of-factly. "He was standing right next to Dana looking shocked as hell."

"Okay…" Bert said thoughtfully. "I think I'm starting to get this…"

"Get what?" Nora asked him.

Bert looked at her intently for a moment and then asked her slowly, "Didn't…Sirius always suspect that you liked Remus?"

"Um…" Nora thought for a moment. "Oh…yeah…you know I think he did. And Remus used to tease me about liking Sirius. I used to get so irritated."

"Okay so did anything happen at the hospital with Remus that Sirius would've been upset about?" he questioned her.

"I don't think so." Nora replied thinking back to that day. "I was just upset and I felt really bad for Remus." Bert continued to listen to Nora earnestly. "When we came back to school I spent quite a bit of time with Remus and we became pretty good friends. I think that's when I stopped liking him. Oh and you won't believe what Shelby and Michelle did. They started this whole rumor that we were going out and stuff."

Bert scratched his head and asked Nora, "Was that before or after you found Sirius snogging Dana?"

"Before." Nora replied.

"And when Sirius kissed you, Remus was there." he clarified.

"Right."

"And he apologized and ran away."

"Yes."

"And you went out with Anthony the next day."

"Yep. And he kissed me."

"Oh boy." Bert said with a sigh and a shake of his head.

"And apparently Sirius saw that." Nora added quietly.

"Let me guess…" Bert said in a sarcastic tone. "Sirius has been upset with you since that day?"

"Er…yeah." Nora said, feeling a little uncomfortable.

"And you still don't know why?" Bert asked her.

"Uh…" was all Nora could say.

"Nora, I thought you were smart." said Bert in a critical voice.

"What do you mean?" Nora asked him indignantly when she heard someone beside them clear his throat. Nora turned to see who it was and saw Sirius standing over them, looking a little glum. He had been wanting to talk to her all day, but didn't get a chance. Sirius knew that Nora would be busy with Bert and didn't want to disturb her, but he was hoping that he'd find her alone sometime so he could finally say what was on his mind. He also wanted to apologize for his behaviour towards her that day.

"Hey, Four-eyes." he said to her and turned to Bert with a nod, "Ern…er…Bert." Bert nodded back to him and Sirius shifted his attention back to Nora, who noticed he was holding their egg baby. "I just wanted to give you Yolk. I'm sorry about before…" _Yeah, and I also wanted to tell you that I bloody well **love** you but you're just too busy to even notice me. _

"Oh." Nora said, lost for words.

"I…hope you're not…mad." Sirius said a little apprehensively.

"No." Nora said, as Sirius dropped Yolk into her hands. His fingers touched the palm of her hand and she felt that same shiver go through her. "Thanks." she mumbled, looking down at the egg.

"Yeah…I'll see you later…I guess." Sirius muttered back to her and left. Nora watched as Sirius walked away.

"You guys are so stupid." Bert said, shaking his head after Sirius was gone. "Maybe even stupider than me. Which is really saying something, especially considering that I nearly killed myself with an accidental spell."

"A WHAT?" Nora yelled, looking at her friend with wide eyes.

"I mean a…attacked. Someone…attacked me." Bert spluttered nervously.

"Bertram Aubrey! Did you hex yourself unconscious?" Nora asked him accusingly.

"SHH! Keep it down, will you?" Bert said urgently, looking around to make sure nobody heard her.

"Holy shit! I can't believe you! Everyone here thinks there's some crazy person on the loose…and you….you…I'm so shocked I can't even talk." Nora said, raising her arms in defeat.

"Well don't then. I don't want anyone to find out. Let's just keep it between me and you." he said pressingly.

"Don't worry. Even _I'm_ embarrassed to tell that story to anyone." Nora scoffed.

"Okay let's just change the subject now." Bert said, feeling highly embarrassed. "We were talking about Sir—"

"What was that?" Nora asked him suddenly.

"I think it sounded like a howling." Bert said, trying to listen.

"Is there a full moon tonight?" Nora asked, looking out of the window that was above their heads.

"I dunno." Bert shrugged. "Why?"

"Oh…never mind." Nora said, getting up from the bench. She looked at the time and realized it was getting pretty late. "We should probably get going."

As Nora made her way down to the Gryffindor common room, she found herself holding Yolk and thinking about Sirius again. _Why'd he look so glum just now?_ Nora started to gently toss her egg from one hand to the other while contemplating to herself. She knew what Bert was trying to tell her before Sirius showed up. _I know Sirius knew that I liked Remus before. That's probably why he was so grumpy after the hospital visit. But how could he be so stupid to think we were actually dating? I would have thought, Remus being one of his best friends, he'd know about something like that. Is that why he was with Dana? Because he was jealous? Was he jealous of Anthony too when he saw him kiss me? Why doesn't he just tell me straight out instead of leaving me here, second guessing everything? Maybe he was going to say something before Bert came back. I should've asked him about it again. Oh, but Bert was there so maybe he wouldn't have said anything. I think I—_

But her thoughts were abruptly interrupted when, to her horror, Yolk slipped from the grip of her hand and fell to the ground with a crack.

"Oh no! Yolkie!" Nora cried, bending down to pick up the broken egg. "Oh my God…what have I done?" Her hands were shaking and her heart was pounding in distress. _What do I do?_ She asked herself. _Sirius. I need to find him! Where would he be? Wait…isn't there a full moon tonight? Don't those guys go with Remus or something? Maybe they're outside. I think I heard howling…_

Nora crept her way through the castle and out the door onto the grounds. She was afraid of running into Remus if he had already transformed, but was sure that it couldn't be that dangerous if Sirius, James and Peter were with him anyways.

Nora, treading on the damp grass, was walking closer and closer to the Forbidden Forest when she saw him. She froze, her eyes wide in fear, realizing that he was alone. She couldn't see Sirius, James or Peter anywhere. The werewolf stopped in his tracks and looked in Nora's direction, and that was when she saw a stag and big black dog run up to Remus, followed by a fat rat. _Oh God. What am I going to do? Where are those guys?_ Nora then saw the stag and dog look in her direction. _Shit. They can see me!_ It looked like the werewolf Remus was trying to get towards Nora, but the stag was fighting him back. The big black dog, meanwhile, started to run towards Nora.

"Shit!" Nora yelped and she started to run towards the castle, the dog chasing after her. She made it to the castle door and stood in front of it, with the dog now growling at her. Nora, still facing the dog, was trying to open the castle door with one hand behind her back, while the other one still held her broken egg baby.

She started to panic and her hand kept slipping as she could see Remus getting closer and closer to her. She finally managed to pull the knob down and the dog leapt next to her and pushed the door open. Nora quickly ran inside and didn't know if she should shut the door, since the dog was now inside with her. _I don't know who I'm more afraid of. This crazy dog or a werewolf!_ She didn't have to decide as the dog ended up pushing the door closed anyways.

_What is wrong with this dog?_ Nora thought, feeling terrified as the dog faced her. _Oh my God. It's going to kill me. I killed Yolkie and now this stupid dog is going to kill me. _Nora closed her eyes, waiting for the bite. A few moments went by and she still didn't feel anything. She peeked through her right eye and saw the dog just sitting there, staring at her.

"What the hell?" Nora said as she looked back at the dog, feeling puzzled.

"Oi! Is there a student out of bed?" Argus Filch, the caretaker's, voice suddenly boomed across the hallway

The big black dog turned his head to the direction of the voice, and to Nora's complete astonishment, transformed into Sirius.

Nora's eyes and mouth were wide open in shock.

"Quick, we gotta hide!" Sirius said as he grabbed Nora's Yolk-free hand and pulled her into an empty classroom. Sirius stood near the door, still holding Nora's hand, listening for any sounds outside.

But Nora was oblivious to the fact that she was even hiding from anyone. She couldn't close her mouth. She just stood there gaping at Sirius. A few moments later, Sirius became aware of her state and looked at her, puzzlingly.

"What?" he asked her with a slight frown, letting go of her hand.

Nora blinked a couple of times and stuttered, "You're a…a…"

"Animagus." He finished her sentence for her.

"Holy shit." Nora said, her eyes still wide.

"How else do you think we run around with Remus during the full moon? And, by the way, what the bloody hell were you doing outside just now? Do you realize you could have been killed?" he scolded Nora.

"There's more of you?" Nora asked Sirius, ignoring his reprimand of her.

"Yeah. Me, James and Peter." Sirius said quickly. "But, seriously, what were you doing out there?"

"That was those guys out there?" Nora asked Sirius, now finding herself very fascinated by the whole situation.

"Yes." Sirius replied, a little annoyed that she was ignoring his questions. "James was the stag and Peter was the rat."

"Whoa." Nora said, taking in the information.

Sirius peeked out the door stealthily and said, "I think Filch is gone now." He turned back to her and asked her in a very serious and concerned tone, "So what possessed you go outside at this time? And don't tell me you couldn't see the full moon!"

"Oh I…" Nora's voice was caught in her throat. She now realized that Sirius was trying to protect her from Remus by scaring her away, and that he had just saved her from getting caught by Filch. She looked down at her hand and saw the cracked egg in her hand and the tears started to flow down her cheeks. Sirius, who was looking at her sternly, waiting for an answer was completely taken aback when he saw her crying.

"Hey what—?" he was going to ask her when Nora held her hand out to show Sirius the remains of their egg baby. "Oh."

"I was looking for you….'cause I…I…" she spluttered through her sobs. "And then I went outside and Remus…and then the dog…I mean you…and…I was looking for you because I…I dropped Yolkie!" she ended her incoherent sentence miserably.

"Oh…" Sirius said again, not sure exactly what to do, alternating looks between his cracked egg baby and a crying Nora. "I'm sure we can fix it."

"He can't be fixed." Nora said grimly, the tears still pouring out of her eyes. "He's dead!"

"Hey, hey." he said gently, now feeling really sorry for her, and Yolk. He held her hand that was holding Yolk from underneath. "Look, it's just a little crack." he said as he touched the egg with his other hand and then clasped it around Nora's.

"You were right. I was a lousy mother." she sniffed.

Sirius couldn't help but crack a smile. "Don't be silly. Here, gimme Yolkie." He took the egg remains from her and said, "I'll take him to the professor in the morning. I'm sure she'll know some kind of spell to repair him."

Nora just nodded to Sirius sadly in reply.

"Are you going to be okay?" he asked her apprehensively.

Nora sniffed and gave a small shrug.

"It's just an egg, Four-eyes." he said to her. Nora looked up at Sirius pathetically, and he had to bite his lip to keep from laughing. He thought she looked adorably pitiful at that moment with her wild hair going in every direction and her eyes still glistening from her tears. He really felt like hugging her right then, but instead just ruffled up her hair and said with a smile, "You should go to sleep." Nora stared at Sirius, not feeling or looking very amused. She was disappointed and started to feel depressed. She was hoping that maybe now, if it was true, Sirius would tell her how he felt about her. _He's either a stupid chicken, or he just doesn't like me._ Nora, of course, automatically assumed the latter thought, and turned on her heel and started to walk away from Sirius desolately without saying anything.

Sirius watched Nora as she walked away from him, wondering why she suddenly looked even more depressed than before. _Wait a minute_, he thought, looking around the corridor. _What am I doing? There's nobody here. We're both finally alone. Now would've been the perfect time to talk to her…but wait. What if I just end up screwing everything up again? _He contemplated the consequences for just a second and then thought, _Oh sod it. I'm taking a chance. _

"Hey Fo—" Sirius said but stopped himself. _Call her by her name, you idiot. What's wrong with you?_ He hesitated for a moment and then said, "Nora, wait!"

Nora froze for a moment and then turned around to face Sirius, her side leaning against the corridor wall, with a surprised look on her face. _Did he just call me 'Nora'?_ Sirius was right next to her now.

"Don't go yet." he said as he put his hand on the side of her face and caressed her cheek with his thumb. Nora could feel the knots in her stomach loosen a little with hope.

"Nora." he whispered her name again, looking at her earnestly with his grey eyes. Nora felt something stir inside of her; hearing Sirius say her name like that made her want to melt into the ground. "Nora I—"

But Nora didn't let him finish what he was going to say as she pulled him towards her and kissed him. She didn't need to hear the words. She could see it in his eyes and now she could feel it in the kiss. Sirius, who was taken by surprise at first, now relished in the touch of her lips, and pulled her even closer to him. He didn't want to let her go, but Nora released the hold she had on his shirt and he broke the kiss and gave her an inquisitive look.

"That was…unexpected." he said to her.

"Sorry." she said with a smile. "You were taking way too long."

"Really." he said with a raised eyebrow.

"Yeah." Nora said with a smirk. "It took you long enough just to call me by name. God knows how long I was going to have to wait before you decided to kiss me."

"Trust me," he said softly, coming close to her again, "I wasn't going to wait for _that _long, you crazy-eyed, electrocuted, deranged hippie."

* * *

It came as no surprise to their friends when they were made aware of the fact that Sirius and Nora were finally together. The only person, who really was surprised, and a bit disappointed, was Anthony. His disappointment was short-lived however, when he hooked up with Dana Abbott a week later. Their relationship didn't last very long though; they both lost interest in each other after they ran out of bad things to say about Nora and Sirius. Anthony eventually caught Dana snogging Amos Diggory and he subsequently started to date a sixth year Ravenclaw. 

Sirius and Bert, despite an awkward beginning, actually became good friends. Sirius had gone back to calling him "Ernie", but it didn't bother Bert anymore. He knew that Sirius was a good guy and he was glad to see his best friend so happy with him. Sirius was also glad to see _his_ best friend so happy after James and Lily announced that they were engaged. Remus, after witnessing all the trouble James and Sirius had to go through, was glad to be single. Besides, he had enough worries to deal with without having to deal with girls. Peter, on the other hand, well…who really cares about Peter?

Although things in the wizarding world were becoming a little uneasy, the students enjoyed the rest of their days safe at Hogwarts. They didn't know what would happen in the future or where their lives would take them, but for now, with all of them being together, life just didn't seem so bad.

&&&&&&&

This story is dedicated to Yolk Black, a brave egg who withstood and persevered through many adversities, but unfortunately ended up dying of a crack overdose. His mother never really forgave herself for dropping him.

His father suggested scrambled eggs for breakfast.

THE END

* * *

A/N: HAHAHA! POOR YOLKIE! Okay, I hope you guys won't be too upset about Yolk...he was just an egg, after all. At least Bert's still alive, right? 

Thank you so much to everyone who sent me reviews, especially those of you who reviewed almost every chapter. I really appreciated it!

If anyone is reading this fic for the first time through, I'd love to know what you thought of it.

Alright then, I'll be looking forward to hearing from all of you! Thanks for reading my story!


End file.
